SoilEssentials has been awarded £40,000 to develop a feasibility study to help research and develop ways to tackle the spread of potato cyst nematode (PCN) to Scotland’s potato growing industry. The grant will help bring them together with academia to deliver this innovative project.
The Collaborative Innovation Fund for food and drink businesses is led by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) across Scotland. Although now closed for new applications, the funding was approved shortly before the COVID-19 lockdown.

SoilEssentials is investing in the project and is working with a group of farmers, the Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA), Scottish Agronomy Ltd, and McCain Foods GB Ltd to develop potential control methods against the potato pest. The amount of land affected by PCN in Scotland has been doubling every six to seven years.

The 12-month project will explore using a new soil sampling approach and land managers will be trained to use the information. The data will be integrated into an IPM model that will identify how best to control PCN in the most environmentally and cost-effective way.

Jim Wilson, Managing Director of SoilEssentials commented “This project focuses on addressing the challenge of Potato Cyst Nematodes (PCN) in the Scottish potato growing sector through proving and commercialising an integrated pest management (IPM) concept. The proposed R&D is critical in developing and validating a decision support system that will provide Scottish potato growers with a precision agriculture tool to manage their land bank for growing seed potato crops.”

Kim Davie, SASA explained “The industry challenge is at the heart of this R&D project and the objectives of the project are aligned to the fact that certified seed potatoes cannot be grown on land recorded as infested by statutory tests, which have a limit of detection of 3.8 million cysts per ha. In the UK, land intended for certified seed is tested ahead of the potato crop in line with statutory requirements and NOT to proactively manage the PCN population. To preserve the land bank for the future growing of certified seed potatoes in Scotland and to provide seed for the rest of the UK beyond the next two decades, new proactive approaches to measure and manage the PCN population are urgently needed.”

Eric Anderson from Scottish Agronomy said “This project seeks to test soil after potatoes are harvested in a novel but robustly designed fashion to provide the farmer with strategies to address PCN load during the next rotation, thus enabling proactive land management. This contrasts with the existing strategy, whereby if the field is scheduled because of statutory testing there is insufficient time to address the incumbent PCN population.”

The £650,000 Collaborative Innovation Fund is supported by HIE and Scottish Enterprise. The programme is primarily aimed at innovations in products, processes or business models leading to new growth in the food and drink sector.

HIE’s head of food and drink, Elaine Jamieson, said:

“As the food and drink continues to combat challenges during the global COVID-19 pandemic, the key to recovering from the trauma of the lockdown is innovation and collaboration. This is vital to enable Scotland’s food and drink businesses to respond to today’s consumer market. The Collaborative Innovation Fund supports food and drink businesses working on innovative projects to unlock new growth and increase competitiveness through new product development and process improvements.

“Experience and evidence tell us that partnership working between business and with academics and other innovation providers stimulates fresh thinking and opens new opportunities and we are delighted to award this funding to this fantastic project.”

The Make Innovation Happen project is one output of a Rural Innovation Support Service (RISS) group set up in 2018 to explore biocontrol for PCN. The Rural Innovation Support Service (RISS) connects farmers and land managers with the right people and helps them develop a viable, innovative project. For more information visit: https://www.innovativefarmers.org/welcometoriss/

09 September 2020 News

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