Food security news: 2013

May
- Unkempt land could benefit farmers - Press release - 24 May
  Parts of the farm landscape that are overgrown are more important in supporting wildlife than they first appear, according to new research published today in…
- Chelsea gold for ‘Food for the Future’ exhibit - News - 23 May
  Researchers from The University of Nottingham’s School of Biosciences won a Gold Medal at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show…
- The world’s favourite fruit only better-tasting and longer-lasting - Press release - 23 May
  Tomatoes, said to be the world’s most popular fruit, can be made both better-tasting and longer-lasting thanks to UK research with purple GM varieties…
- An international vision for wheat improvement - Press release - 16 May
  By 2050, a 60% increase in wheat production will be needed to meet the demand of a growing population…
- Reducing the environmental impacts of fertiliser use - News - 15 May
  Scientists have demonstrated how improvements in nitrogen fertiliser manufacture and their application could help reduce China’s agricultural…
- Wheat breeding science offers greater yields - Press release - 14 May
  UK wheat yields could be boosted by up to 30% with the introduction of a new wheat bred from a wild grass species…
- Plants use underground networks to warn of enemy attack - News - 13 May
  Plants use underground fungal networks to warn their neighbours of aphid attack, UK scientists have discovered…
- H7N9: A novel influenza virus - News - 8 May
  By Dr Colin Butter, Dr Holly Shelton and Dr Munir Iqbal of The Pirbright Institute’s Avian Viral Diseases Programme.
April
- New grass hybrid could help reduce the likelihood of flooding - Press release - 25 April
  A collaboration of plant and soil scientists from across the UK has shown a grass hybrid species could help reduce the impact of flooding…
- Breeding better beer - Feature - 24 April
  Brewing-enthusiast Dr Chris Ridout had little idea when he applied for a BBSRC public engagement grant in 2001 that it might lead him to resurrect…
- Pig disease that costs millions targeted by genetic study - Press release - 11 April
  A fast mutating virus that affects pig herds and costs pork producers millions of pounds each year is being targeted by scientists…
- Higher levels of healthy compound in Beneforté broccoli - News - 10 April
  Field trials and genetic studies have shown that a new variety of broccoli developed by BBSRC-funded scientists reliably yields higher levels…
- Midges tracked by new Indian Bluetongue Vector Network - News - 9 April
  A new network has been set up by an international collaboration of researchers looking at midge monitoring and control as a low-cost way of tackling…
- Breeding better chickens website launched - News - 8 April
  A BBSRC-funded research group working to improve the health of the world’s huge population of broiler chickens has created a new website…
- What lives inside a chicken? - Feature - 4 April
  It might sound like a strange question to ask, but as the world’s most abundant food animal and an incubator of many bacteria…
- Crop Genomics and Technologies – update to call - News - 4 April
  BBSRC and India's DBT recently launched their new initiative, ‘Crop Genomics and Technologies’ (CGAT)…
March
- Appetite genes are key to better diets for poultry, study shows - Press release - 27 March
  The welfare of poultry could be improved by a discovery about how chickens regulate their appetites…
- Pesticide combination affects bees’ ability to learn - Press release - 27 March
  Two new studies have highlighted a negative impact on bees’ ability to learn following exposure to a combination of pesticides…
- New foot-and-mouth vaccine signals huge advance in global disease control - Press release - 27 March
  Scientists have developed a new methodology to produce a vaccine for foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV)…
- Poultry probiotic cuts its coat to beat bad bacteria - Press release - 27 March
  A strain of probiotic bacteria that can fight harmful bacterial infections in poultry has the ability to change its coat…
- International call for crop improvement projects launched - News - 26 March
  BBSRC and India’s Department of Biotechnology (DBT) have announced a joint call for collaborative research proposals that underpin the use of genomics…
- Pig wasting syndrome costing farmers millions - Press release - 26 March
  Stark new figures show that a common pig virus, present on 99% of pig farms has major economic implications for individual farmers…
- Rothamsted Research submits application for extension of GM wheat trial - News - 25 March
  Rothamsted Research has submitted an application to Defra to extend its current GM wheat field trial to include additional autumn-sown cadenza wheat…
- Quality fish from lab to plate - Press release - 18 March
  A new company, which aims to exploit cutting-edge genetics technology to improve the quality of the fish we eat, has been launched in St Andrews…
- Plants let chloroplasts know the time - Press release - 15 March
  Plant cells communicate information about the time of day to their chloroplasts, the part of their cells that underpins all agricultural productivity on Earth…
- An insect model for Schmallenberg virus replication - Press release - 14 March
  Researchers at The Pirbright Institute, which receives strategic funding from BBSRC have identified a suitable model midge species…
- New study hopes to reduce bone fractures in laying hens - Press release - 12 March
  Skeletal health in laying hens is a major welfare and economic problem with up to 80% of hens suffering bone breakages in some free range systems…
- New poultry research facilities - Press release - 11 March
  Poultry health and welfare, a key factor in a multi-billion pound food industry, will be boosted with the building of a new research centre…
- Livestock research initiative has greater sustainability goal - Press release - 7 March
  Efforts to improve the sustainability of livestock production will be boosted by a new research partnership…
- Bees get a buzz from caffeine - Press release - 7 March
  You may need a cup of coffee to kick start the day but it seems honeybees also get their buzz from drinking flower nectar containing caffeine…
- Sci-fi facilities for UK plant science - Feature - 5 March
  Blink and the future has arrived. Many modern inventions, from huge and mighty stealth bombers to electric-hybrid vehicles…
February
- Crowdsourcing killer outbreaks - Feature - 18 February
  In May 2011, a new strain of E.coli bacteria claimed 50 lives and struck 4000 more people as it spread around Europe from Germany…
- Planting wildflowers on farmland helps spiders - News - 14 February
  Farmers could help control crop pests by encouraging spider populations, according to new research…
- Under the bar: acrylamide and food safety - Feature - 6 February
  News that the chemical acrylamide was present in cooked and processed food products was extremely unpalatable when the discovery was first made in 2002…
January
- The need to feed programmes Campylobacter’s ‘Sat Nav’ - Press release - 30 January
  A rumbling tummy is our body’s way of telling us "it's time for lunch". Likewise, bacteria need to know when it's time to eat…
- War report: fighting armyworms - Feature - 28 January
  In December 2012 a serious outbreak of armyworms began rampaging across Zambia, infecting almost 100,000 hectares of agricultural land…
- Friendly bacteria show key role in “priming” plant defences - Press release - 24 January
  New research into plant disease resistance shows that bacteria attracted to maize roots induce a state of ‘early warning’ in the cereal, resulting in a faster…
- European strategy to tackle great challenges of agriculture and food security under climate change - News - 22 January
  The Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (FACCE JPI) Strategic Research Agenda has been launched…
- Using their genes against them: Fighting insect pests with genetic targeting - Feature - 7 January
  When you look out on a golden-yellow field of oilseed rape you might not think you’re seeing a battleground, but crops including oilseed rape, wheat, potato…
- The cannibalistic foreign slug which could threaten UK crops and biodiversity - Feature - 3 January
  When Ian Bedford noticed an unusually high number of slugs in his garden this spring he didn’t realise he had stumbled on a foreign invasion…
- BBSRC invests in future of livestock genomics - News - 2 January
  Over £1.1M of new investment has been awarded for ARK-Genomics, a high-throughput DNA sequencing facility based at The Roslin Institute…

Food security news: 2013

May

April

March

February

January