Funding boost for food security research

The UK farming industry is set to benefit from a new project by researchers at the University of Sheffield and RAGT Seeds Ltd, which will aim to develop new higher-yielding wheat varieties, less dependent on pesticides and chemical inputs. The project, which has been funded by a grant from the Technology Strategy Board and investment from RAGT Seeds Ltd., will combine recent advances in plant biology and breeding techniques to produce wheat with durable resistance to disease. The UK farming industry currently spends around £30m on wheat fungicides, spraying an area of over 2 million hectares, to ensure wheat is protected against disease. The future implementation of revised European legislation means that currently used fungicides may have to be withdrawn, which could have serious implications for crop production, food security and farmer´s incomes. The new project will apply a novel screening methodology, combined with conventional breeding techniques, to develop new varieties that should require less chemical inputs. The research will develop biochemical analyses to look at the plant´s responses to different disease threats. This innovative method will mean that the research can be carried out in a much shorter space of time, when compared with techniques which require the plants to be grown to maturity.