Research

The overall aim is to improve detection of economically important pests/pathogens/diseases affecting key Scottish crops. This will improve decision making for growers and control recommendations and inform policy and statutory recommendations, leading to improved disease control. Much of the research capitalises on outputs from the previous RESAS programme and externally funded research. The initial focus is primarily on developing/improving the necessary assays, tools and techniques.

The aim of research deliverable is to explore the uptake of practices which improve the efficiency, productivity and sustainability of land, crop and livestock management throughout Scotland. The research builds on previous work within the RESAS Strategic Programme and on collaborations with UK and international partners.

The aim of this research is to develop integrated management systems to enhance economic and environmental sustainability in agriculture, focusing on two production systems: arable and ruminant livestock. First, new technologies and management strategies rom existing research and linked RDs (primarily 2.1.6, 2.1.8, 2.3.4, 2.3.8) will be reviewed to identify state-of-the-art best practice options.

The aim of this research is to understand the importance of factors that modify reliance on pesticides and integrate these into Integrated Pest Management (IPM) toolboxes tailored to key Scottish horticultural and arable crops. Novel control options, which reduce reliance on pesticides, are required because of reduced availability of plant protection products. IPM tools are being developed and evaluated in optimised combinations to suppress key pest and disease threats for each cropping system. This work integrates contributions from other areas of research e.g.

The aim of this RD is to improve livestock production, efficiency and welfare, whilst decreasing the use of resources and impact on the environment. This will be achieved using current and next generation tools, focussing on genomics and targeted gene approaches for production (growth, efficiency), maternal and health characteristics (including economically important endemic diseases).

This research aims to examine how resilience in rural communities can be enhanced through processes of local empowerment and the role of wider networks and partnerships in facilitating the enhancement of resilience. It will also consider how stakeholders’ (including academics, policymakers, practitioners and communities) understandings of rural community resilience can be developed to create collaborative initiatives in the future.

This research has three main aims. Firstly, it seeks to build a better understanding of the characteristics of small and medium sized food and drink enterprises in Scotland. To fulfil this it will conduct a large-scale representative survey of Scottish food and drink enterprises. The other aims will build on this survey, in the context of feedback from project stakeholders. The second aim is to build a better understanding of the characteristics and development of short food and drink supply networks in Scotland by conducting in-depth research with food and drink producers.

Natural Asset Inventory and Natural Capital Accounts: the aim is to develop a spatially-referenced register of Scotland’s natural assets and contribute to a set of natural capital accounts for Scotland that can over time track the progress of Scotland's green growth aspirations.

Novel Crops: To address opportunities for producing alternative protein and carbohydrate crops in Scottish agriculture for fish and crustacean feed, bioenergy, bio-refining, animal feed and human consumption, and to develop design criteria for integrating suitable alternative legume and non-legume crops as sole and intercrops within rotations whilst also accounting for agronomic and ecosystem services.

There are two main areas of research:

To develop novel tools and approaches to improve diagnosis of the most economically important endemic diseases of livestock in Scotland, the UK and Europe. The research will lead to the development of new and more versatile technologies for the accurate diagnosis of infectious disease and investigation of complex disease syndromes (such as reproductive and respiratory diseases), which will help to determine the interaction between the microbes (bacteria and viruses) present and the animal hosts they infect.