Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences and James Hutton Institute establish collaborative links

"The agreement outlines cooperation in crop breeding, genomics, pests and disease control and sustainable soil management, by way of academic exchanges and joint research programmes"

A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China, and the James Hutton Institute, during the 2018 UK-China Potato Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Conference, held in Shandong, China.

The agreement outlines cooperation in crop breeding, genomics, pests and disease control and sustainable soil management, by way of academic exchanges and joint research programmes.

The Institute was represented by Professor Bob Ferrier, Director of Research; Professor Lesley Torrance, Director of Science; Dr Jonathan Snape, Head of James Hutton Limited: Professor Derek Stewart, Hutton agri-food sector leader; Dr Mark Taylor, potato geneticist, and Professor Ian Toth, senior scientist. The UK delegation also included former Hutton board member Allan Stevenson and Mike Storey, Head of Research and Development at AHDB Potatoes.

The memorandum was agreed in the context of the wider collaboration between the China Rural Technology Development Centre and Innovate UK on agricultural science and technology.

China produces the largest amount of potatoes in the world but there is significant potential to improve the country’s production processes. This has become more crucial as the Chinese government has designated potatoes as a staple food for the burgeoning nation of 1.3 billion people.

Relatively, producing a potato requires 30% less water than China’s traditional staples of rice, wheat and maize. Land dedicated to potato crops is being doubled, as the Chinese government encourages people to increase potato consumption.