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Research and knowledge dissemination led by Greenwich on biological pesticides has made a major contribution to the introduction of novel safe commercial pesticides based on insect viruses to help farmers overcome the problems of chemical resistance in major crop pests in Asia and Africa. Research at Greenwich identified effective virus strains, methods of production and formulation which were then developed and evaluated with in country research collaborators before being transferred to local SMEs to start up production in India, Thailand, Kenya and Tanzania. Greenwich advised governments on adopting suitable regulation to support the registration and sale of these novel pesticides.
Plant resistance provides sustainable control of the $125bn annual world crop losses to nematodes to replace environmentally hazardous pesticides. Urwin and Atkinson have developed three biosafe resistance technologies that 1) suppress feeding success, 2) reduce root invasion and 3) suppress nematode development by RNA interference. We have developed GM agriculture with leading industry (Sinochem, Monsanto) and in emerging economies through free access to technology, capacity building initiatives, review of collaborative R&D plans (India) and regulatory approval of field trials (Uganda). The work has also influenced policy-makers in the UK and in Switzerland, leading to new security measures for GM field trials in these countries..
Impact: Economic: The first fungicide-based control schemes minimising UK barley yield losses (saving approx. 516K tonnes / £95.1M per annum). A risk assessment method, which minimised pesticide usage.
Significance: Barley is the second most popular cereal crop grown in the UK — in 2012, 5.52 million tonnes of barley were grown (market value £1.02 billion). The research led to savings to the UK farming industry of ~£5.4 million per annum
Beneficiaries: Farmers, malting and brewing industries, UK tax revenue.
Attribution: Drs. Oxley, Havis, Hughes, Fountaine, and Burnett (SRUC) identified the pathogen and produced a field test for early identification of infestation.
Reach: Barley growing, malting and brewing sectors, seed and agrochemical industries UK-wide and in Ireland.
Based on innovative technology invented and developed through research at the University of Southampton, sustainable pest control products by spinout company Exosect are being employed around the world to preserve the global food supply. Since 2008 its bio-control products have been newly adopted in diverse situations: by Sainsbury's in response to consumer pressure to reduce chemicals in food; by Bayer CropScience, who bought rights, in a multimillion pound deal, to a product for the protection of bee populations; by English Heritage to preserve the UK's cultural heritage. The technology has inspired a US$1m Gates Foundation grant for poverty reduction efforts in sub-Saharan Africa and raised awareness among conventional pesticide manufacturers of the environmental and economic benefits of bio-control solutions.
Malaria kills around 650,000 children a year but can be prevented by killing the mosquito vectors. As mosquitoes become resistant to insecticides the prevention measures can become ineffective. Research at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) led by Professor Hemingway FRS has been instrumental in the development of current World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines to manage resistance, and has led to improved resistance diagnostics and novel monitoring software to integrate entomological and human health outcomes. LSTM's research led to the creation of the Innovative Vector Control Consortium (IVCC) which was established as an independent Product Development Partnership (PDP) in 2008. New, longer lasting formulations of insecticides developed by IVCC are now in operational use, and several novel public health insecticides are under development.
Newcastle research into improving commercial soil-based greenhouse productivity has led to an increase in profitability (due to higher yields and lower costs) and a significant reduction in the negative environmental impacts of commercial, organic and other soil-based greenhouse crop production systems in Europe (UK, Greece and Crete). Newcastle's research has led to improved profits to UK organic tomato farmers estimated to be up to £100,000/ha/year and has allowed large scale organic greenhouse production to be a viable option to meet the demands of the UK organic market. In Greece increased profits are estimated at €25,000 per ha/year and in Crete the estimated value of reduced soil disease control and pest management is €110,000 per ha/year.
BEAA has created a world leading collection of Miscanthus genetic resources. This collection and associated expertise has led to an impact on commerce through investments by industry in Miscanthus science and plant breeding. Miscanthus is a highly productive grass which naturally occurs in Asia and is of interest as an energy crop worldwide. A second impact has therefore also been achieved through the implementation of international policy on the fair and equitable use of natural resources. The experience and knowledge gained through this impact has provided an example for others to follow and is being used to support UK and EU legislation and policymaking.
GM-6, a new maize variety developed through innovative Bangor crop breeding research (pioneering the use of participatory plant breeding) was released in three states in Western India between 2002 and 2005. Since its release, GM-6 cultivation has rapidly grown to a cumulative area exceeding 2M hectares, of which 54% (more than 1M ha) was during 2008-2013, with a major positive impact on the welfare and prosperity of at least 330,000 households per year. Because of its advantage under drought and on poor soils, GM-6 has average grain yields 28% higher than the best available alternative varieties, providing 360,000 t of additional food grain during 2008-2013 with a total net present value to these farm households of an average of at least £9M per year.
By 2020 global demand for plant-derived oils is set to increase by 23%. Researchers at Cardiff University have developed an approach using a method called flux control analysis to identify key biomolecular nodes which, when manipulated, enhance oil production. This research has informed the successful improvement of oil crops and has already increased oil yields in new strains of oilseed rape in the field by over 8%. The methodology is currently being applied to other major oil crops (oil palm, soybean), and has changed industry practice in crop development.
The wheat-breeding industry, including some of the largest plant breeders and seed-development companies in the world, has benefited from decreased production costs and increased productivity as a result of research led by the University of Bristol and carried out between 2009 and 2011. The Bristol researchers developed the tools necessary to differentiate point mutations in the complex DNA structure of wheat. This was a critical step in wheat genotyping and led to the public release of 95% of the wheat genome in 2010 and the development, by Bristol, of a cheap, easy-to-use assay for industry. These advances were quickly embraced by industrial wheat breeders aiming to deliver new varieties of wheat with improved yields and desirable traits such as disease resistance. Limagrain, the world's fifth-largest producer of field seeds (including wheat) with €595 million in sales of seeds, realised a ten-fold reduction in costs and a ten-fold increase in throughputs in their breeding laboratory. With the wheat-seed business worth over £16 million annually in the UK and over £1.8 billion globally, the new genotyping tools generated by Bristol have had, and continue to have, a major impact on the wheat industry and its ability to respond to the challenges of climate change and population growth.