Blog

We are pleased that Professor Ian Toth, Head of the Plant Health Centre, is able to tell us more about this new virtual centre and why working together is crucial for enhancing Scotland's resilience in the face of threats to arable crops, trees, horticulture, and wild plants.

We are pleased that Annemarie Gibson of Circamedia, an Edinburgh-based film and multimedia production company, has provided us with some insights into what excited her whilst learning about SEFARI research and ultimately telling our story on film.

SEFARI is in a unique position to help individual businesses and other partners access publicly funded research to drive innovation and sustainable economic growth in Scotland. Our research on innovation stretches across the food and drink supply chain. We are working in partnership with Scotland Food and Drink, and are delighted their CEO James Withers has agreed to share his perspective.

Recent scholarship suggests that the popular narrative of the Highland clearances, which looms large in Scotland’s cultural identity, is to some extent a late nineteenth and twentieth century myth.  Much of the out-migration, especially in the early phases, seems to have been voluntary, or at least unopposed. However new Scottish Government-funded research suggests that the long history of demographic shrinkage in Scotland’s Highlands and Islands is far from over.

Despite the inclement weather forecast, two intrepid SEFARI scientists braved the elements to attend a ‘Pig Summit’ organised by the Scottish Pig Producers Organisation (SPPO) in Perth on 6th Dec., and the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO) Technical Meeting in Inverness the following day.

Complex, multidimensional, interconnected data can be extremely difficult to communicate effectively even using classic visualisation tools. Gone are the days when we can just draw a straight line through a 2D scatter graph. 

Enlisting people’s help to keep our trees healthy was the task of a team representing SEFARI at the recent science showcase event UnEarthed, held at Dynamic Earth Edinburgh.

On 27 November 2017, Scotland’s First Minister opened the World Forum on Natural Capital – this two day event sees delegates from around the world explore how our shared geology, soil, air, water and all living things should be properly accounted for - in how we live our lives, and how we spend and invest our money.. 

This week SEFARI is heading down south to London to take part in the UK's only food and drink cross-sector event, called Food Matters Live, which is taking place from 21^st - 23^rd November 2017 at London’s ExCeL.The free to attend event involves around 800 organisations and brings together a wide range of people and companies: food producers and retailers from small and medium enterprises to multi-nationals, U

Our farmland environment is made up of a highly complex network of habitats that support an amazing diversity of plants and animals, microscopic soil organisms to farmland birds. Any changes to this intricate network of interactions can be subtle and sometimes unpredictable, so it is important we fully understand how our environment is changing over time.