8
Our Values:
created by the people who work by them
Everyone was involved in identifying, developing and articulating these statements, through the
course of many workshops during our first year as an Institute. They are our guide and inspiration
for all that we do.
•
We respect and value our people and the people we engage with
•
We want to make a difference
•
We strive to be excellent in everything we do
•
We lead by example
•
We foster creativity and innovation
9
Events of the Year
April
2013
A new grass species to help reduce flooding
A collaboration of plant scientists from across the UK,
including the James Hutton Institute, showed that
a grass hybrid species could help reduce the impact
of flooding. The research team revealed that the
hybrid, named
Festulolium
, reduced water run-off
from agricultural grassland by up to 51% compared
to a leading UK nationally-recommended perennial
ryegrass cultivar and by 43% compared to meadow
fescue.
In the face of climate change and more extreme
weather events, including prolonged rainfall, the new
grass could help reduce flooding whilst providing
pasture for food production.
Engaging in Common Agricultural Policy reform
We continued to support the development of
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform proposals by
actively engaging with Scottish Government policy and
implementation teams, parliamentarians and other
stakeholders such as NFUS and the Scottish Crofters
Federation. In April, we led the development of the
regionalisation and budget scenarios used at the CAP
Moving Forward conference. This helped establish
the key features of the area-based payments system
that will be used from 2015 to distribute upwards of
€500 million per annum. Subsequently, we conducted
analyses of voluntary coupled support for the beef
sector and the French redistribution option (paying
more for the first 54 ha of land). We also investigated
the additional areas of land that could become eligible
for payment from 2015.
The Scottish Government has repeatedly cited our
research as being essential to its ongoing policy
development on CAP. As a result, Institute staff actively
participate in debating reforms and present their work
in forums such as the Future CAP Stakeholders group
and to the board of NFUS.
Uncovering plant communication systems; developing new soil technology;
modelling the future of CAP reform; creating global alliances and engaging
the general public in new findings – 2013-14 was a year of ground-breaking
research discoveries, unique collaborations and major scientific progress.
