News article

Crop scientists will be making the science behind plant breeding fun, easy to understand and accessible at the Cambridge Science Festival on Saturday 17th March.

Kerry Maguire from the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) said: “The bread you eat, the beer you drink, the oil you cook with, the grass and flowers in your garden, the medicines you use, and even the diesel in the bus that takes you to work, exist because of the work of a plant breeder.

NIAB Innovation Farm is a unique showcase of plant genetic innovation delivered in partnership with academics, scientists and industry. It acts as an interactive commercial hub linking science and industry, highlighting developments in plant research and transferring market-ready innovations into commercial reality as rapidly as possible. For more information down load our latest leaflet.

Tuesday 6th March 2012 at NIAB in Cambridge

The Barley Grain Identification Course is a must for anyone involved in the barley industry, whether breeding, buying, trading, or processing, who needs to be able to recognise the morphological characters that positively identify barley varieties from a grain sample, with particular attention to the effects of threshing on the grain.

NIAB has appointed Bill Clark as Commercial Technical Director for NIAB TAG, based at the Cambridge office. Currently Director of the Rothamsted Broom’s Barn Research Centre, he will take up the position with effect from 1st March 2012.

NIAB has held its first Founders Day at the Cambridge headquarters, welcoming descendents of NIAB's founder Sir Lawrence Weaver and of the original sponsors to tour the site, including the new entrance road named after Sir Lawrence and to view the extensive NIAB archive collection.

The visiting group included Sir Lawrence's grandchildren; brother and sisters Professor Lawrence Weaver, Katie Abbot, Rachel Munn and Caroline Baker and thir spouses, and John, Peter and Christopher Wilson - grandsons and great grandson of original sponsor Sir Frederick Hiam.

The Bentley Nelstrop Medal for Enterprise and Innovation

Congratulations to the NIAB Innovation Farm team who have been awarded the 2012 Bentley Nelstrop Medal.

The in-house award celebrates exceptional contribution to innovation and enterprise by an individual or a team from within NIAB and NIAB TAG – values that the Innovation Farm team has more than exceeded since the project was launched in 2009.

Soil and water experts line up for practical event

Soil fertility and tillage systems, controlled traffic farming, abstraction licensing issues and improving irrigation efficiency, are some of the practical topics to be explored at a new East Anglian technical event – Soil Water and Precision Management − at Easton College.

Organised by the Centre for Contemporary Agriculture, this practical event on 15 March, at 9am and repeated at 12.30pm, is grant funded by LandSkills East and is free for farmers and others to attend.

A unique £6.8 million NIAB project has secured EU funding to improve the transfer of innovative plant science from research laboratories through to commercial markets.

NIAB Innovation Farm has been awarded a £2.7 million grant from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), with additional match-funding coming from industry and academic partners.

Four crop science students have been awarded NIAB TAG’s ASSET prize for outstanding achievement in their studies.

Ben Burrows, Henry Ward, Mike Neaverson and Alex Turner each win a £3,000 bursary to assist them in their final year at university. The 2011 awards were presented to the students by Mike Warner, chairman of AICC, in front of delegates at the AICC Conference on 10th January 2012.

Congratulations to Dr Cristobal Uauy of the John Innes Centre, who has been awarded the 'Bayer Early Excellence in Science Award 2011 for Biology' for his work in the research area of wheat genetics. Cristobal leads JIC’s collaboration with NIAB, working closely with Prof. Andy Greenland's Genetics and Breeding team at Cambridge.

To find out more about Dr Uauy's award and his work click here