Legume plants can make ‘smart’ management decisions when it comes to interacting with their symbiotic bacterial partners to harness nitrogen from the atmosphere, a research team including a James Hutton Institute scientist has shown, offering insight into how a better understanding of these ‘smart’ interactions could help advance sustainable agriculture.

The James Hutton Institute has announced the appointment of Sir Paul Grice, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Queen Margaret University, to its Board of Directors as a non-executive director.

Sir Paul held the position of Clerk and Chief Executive of the Scottish Parliament from its inception in 1999 to 2019, leading the delivery of all services to the Parliament alongside acting as its principal adviser on procedural and constitutional matters.

From one little seed, planted into soil, many green lives can arise – from small herbs up to big trees, or from ornamental flowers to substantial crops which all animals and humans need to survive on this planet. Plant biologists estimate the total number of plant species roughly to be about 250,000.

Plant scientists at the James Hutton Institute are studying the evolution of late blight in potato by working with industry and research partners to track the distribution and diversity of dominant clones in Europe in 2020, and have also contributed to a review into the development of the disease in Asia in the last 150 years, as part of global efforts to improve the sustainable production of healthy potato crops.

Substantial cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions could be achieved by raising water levels in agricultural peatlands, according to a new study co-authored by James Hutton Institute scientists and published in the journal Nature.

Peatlands occupy just three per cent of the world’s land surface area but store a similar amount of carbon to all terrestrial vegetation, as well as supporting unique biodiversity.

A partnership agreement has been signed between Utah State University and the James Hutton Institute to promote cooperation in agricultural and environmental research, with emphasis on climate change issues.

The agreement was signed by Professor Colin Campbell, Chief Executive of the James Hutton Institute, and USU President, Noelle E. Cockett, during an online meeting held to mark the occasion.

How will food production respond to the effects of COVID-19 in the next 18 months? Which sectors are likely to experience change? These questions are at the heart of research examining how best to protect the UK’s food and nutrition security from the impact of climate change, and for which views are being actively sought.

An industry team led by agritech specialist Liberty Produce and supported by the James Hutton Institute has won Innovate UK funding to develop innovative hybrid farming and greenhouse technologies to work towards Singapore’s food security and net-zero goals.

Researchers from the James Hutton Institute are deploying aerial mapping technology to collect data on the natural restoration of peatland at the Queen’s Balmoral Estate in Scotland. A survey aircraft equipped with advanced laser scanners is being used to create highly detailed 3D models of upland peatland, with the aim of monitoring changes in hydrological and waterflow dynamics resulting from the restoration work.