NIAB’s expertise in field vegetable and salad crops encompasses many species and cropping systems, with a focus on onions, carrots, lettuce, brassicas and cucurbit crops (courgettes, pumpkins and squashes).
There is a strong emphasis on demonstration and knowledge transfer, and open events on variety trials each year attract the majority of industry stakeholders across the crop sectors. The group develops underpinning research on many aspects of production and crop improvement, working with pathologists, geneticists and irrigation specialists.
There is increasing capability in protected cropping, utilising NIAB’s new glasshouse facilities. Large storage units suitable for onions, carrots and more species, plus a well equipped analytical laboratory for quality trait investigations, provide a comprehensive set of facilities.
The group accesses trial sites with growers in major growing areas, and has bases in Lincolnshire and East Anglia, including at Hasse Fen in the heart of the Fenland growing region.