Cereal walk at The James Hutton Institute’s Balruddery farm

The James Hutton Institute held a successful cereal walk, Plotting the Future, this month at Balruddery farm, home to over 5,000 field plots demonstrating the wide range of research projects that are part of its International Barley Hub (IBH) programme.

Tours of the field plots showcased the various research projects undertaken within the IBH, many of them student projects sponsored by industry and UK government Collaborative Training Partnership (CTP) funding, that aim to futureproof the industry by increasing resilience to the changing climate and reducing barley’s carbon footprint, while maintaining productivity and quality.

Senior Postdoctoral Scientist, Dr Joanne Russell, said, “It was such a pleasure to share our work with so many people and get the chance to answer their questions and enter into discussions.

“We covered topics such as agronomic practices, management techniques, remote sensing, malting quality and breeding.”

The IBH’s cutting-edge science is leading to new barley varieties that will potentially play a huge role in global food security.