Hutton Highlights, June 2019

Contents 04 News Highlights 06 Awards, Accolades & Appointments 08 Scottish Affairs Select Committee visits to discuss future of agriculture and innovation 10 Protecting Britain’s iconic oak trees and their biodiversity 12 Deeper scrutiny of plant and microbe interactions key for food safety 14 Nature’s dangerous decline ‘unprecedented’: IPBES report 16 Research underway to stem losses in potato storage 18 Arable Scotland: a brand- new arable event for Scotland 18 14 08 10 2 Hutton Highlights June 2019 3 The James Hutton Institute magazine team Gillian Stirton, Bernardo Rodriguez-Salcedo, Adam Walker, Sarah Horne editor@hutton.ac.uk The James Hutton Institute is a well-respected and globally recognised research organisation delivering fundamental and applied science to drive the sustainable use of land and natural resources. @JamesHuttonInst /JamesHuttonInstitute /JamesHuttonInstitute Science is key to future global challenges Welcome to Hutton Highlights at a time when many of key issues we work on are at unprecedented levels of attention. Climate Change and Biodiversity are major areas of expertise, skill and knowledge in the Institute and with recent activism and high-profile international reports and mass public engagement it is at the top of the agenda of decision makers and wider society. In addition to the IPCC reports on climate change, the UK Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) Net Zero report (1 May), the UN has also just published the Global Assessment of Biodiversity (6 May) and this has further brought climate change and nature to the fore. This follows the UN’s General Assembly declaration of ‘2021 – 2030’ as the UN’s Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. That restoration could remove up to 26 gigatons of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere demonstrates how linked these objectives are. Inside and outside the institute we have called for “an even bigger and wider effort from everyone to deal with the consequences of climate change and to ensure the James Hutton Institute will be doing everything we can to help”. It is a moment for reflection on what we do, to challenge and refresh our thinking and how we might take considered action that is truly transformative. We are proud of all that our colleagues are doing and want you to join in and as always please do comment on what you read. Comments? Dr Charles Bestwick has been appointed as the new Director of SEFARI Gateway. Charles has been involved in the Gateway since its inception in 2016 and has served as the interim Director since September 2018. SEFARI Gateway will host a reception at the Scottish Government Pavilion at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh at 11am on Thursday 20 June and will have various of its funded projects and activities on show at member institutes’ stands at the Show. Pop along to see what the consortium has been involved with and the array of projects that the six Scottish SEFARIs cover: everything from films to forests. SEFARI activity New Gateway Director appointed Introduction Professor Colin Campbell, Chief Executive of The James Hutton Institute /company/james-hutton-institute