Case Studies

Potato is the second most important food crop in the UK, and the underpinning seed potato industry contributes >£1 billion to Scotland’s economy. Aphid-vectored viruses threaten potato harvests because infected crops are downgraded or destroyed.

Fluctuating environmental conditions severely impact Scottish crop production affecting crop yields, nutritional quality and food security.

Our ongoing project at Glen Finglas has shown how sensitive biodiversity is to changing upland management. To maintain consistency, we have used the same monitoring methods since the beginning of the project.

It has been reported that the UK exiting of the European Union (Brexit) has affected salmon industry. Both the volume and value of salmon exported to the EU, which still is the main market for Scottish Salmon, have been impacted.

The eco-labels "Farmed Responsibly ASC Certified" and "Certified Carbon Neutral" can potentially enhance the desirability of Scottish salmon among UK consumers. Additionally, labelling Scottish salmon as “High in Omega-3” could further increase its value.

Farmed salmon is one of Scotland’s main exports, benefitting the national economy and local communities.

In Scotland, about 11% of households experienced low food security (reporting reduced quality, variety, or desirability of diet) or

There are clearly a range of ways that animal health and welfare researchers and policy makers can draw from psychology to improve the ways in which they communicate and/or elicit positive behaviour change in their target audiences.

Transforming our diets to build a more sustainable food system is paramount to achieving net zero. Here, we provide a high-resolution perspective on United Kingdom (UK) seafood supplies and nutrient flows at species level.

The Shetland Islands are some of the most remote Islands of the UK. Therefore, opportunities for hands-on STEM science and knowledge exchange of cutting-edge research can be challenging due to distance, weather and cost.

Scottish Atlantic oak woods or temperate rainforest are rare and threatened habitats that support a vast array of biodiversity, particularly lichens and bryophytes.

Community Wealth Building (CWB) is a people-centred approach to local economic development, which redirects wealth back into the local economy, and places control and benefits into the hands of local people.  

Over the past decade, the European Commission has invested in a series of measures designed to support innovation in agriculture through networking all those involved in Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS): farmers, advisors, supply chain members, NGOs and researchers. 

Castration and tail docking of lambs are commonly performed management procedures in sheep farming. These interventions aim to prevent unwanted pregnancies caused by young rams that reach puberty, and to minimise risk of blowfly strike and maggot infestation of the breech, respectively.

Genetic biodiversity is the fuel that drives crop improvement.  However, in major cereal crops, while the traditional method of crop improvement has brought significant yield improvements over time, it has also resulted in a drastic loss of crop genetic biodiversity. 

Achieving food security has gained prominence in the present policy agenda to increase resilience to adverse events. Using a novel method, we estimated the food balance sheets of Scotland, and assessed the self-sufficiency of major food commodities for the first time.

Spurred in part by Scottish government policies such as the commitment to reach Net Zero by 2045, there has been an increase in investment in land for natural capital purposes in Scotland.

Agriculture faces many challenges, including a warming climate, more frequent occurrence of extreme climate events and increased incidence and severity of crop diseases.

Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite that impacts human and animal health worldwide. Infection in humans is usually very mild, however, there can be severe or life-threatening disease in immune compromised people or pregnant women.

Biodiversity is the variety of life on earth and is important to most aspects of our lives.