Displaying 91 - 100 of 3249
Using capacity developed since 2008 (Brian Pack inquiry, Agricultural Support), SRP research shaped the 2015 reform of payment regions. The 2022-27 SRP has supporting policy options from the Vision for Agriculture. In particular, the analysis, of the impact and uptake of Enhanced Conditionality (EC) measures (with SRP experts from biodiversity, soils and waters). EC will fundamentally reshape what public subsidies deliver for climate and biodiversity crises. The analysis, with SRUC colleagues, also reconsidered payment regions and related mechanism to make them more fit for purpose. The
Disease-related crop losses threaten UK potato production, with £50 million spent annually controlling late blight alone. Potato cyst nematodes further endanger the seed industry. Genomic tools, particularly diagnostic Resistance gene enrichment Sequencing (dRenSeq), have transformed resistance breeding. Our research generated high-resolution disease resistance gene profiles for 657 commercial cultivars and 200 wild accessions worldwide. This resource informs parental selection, enables strategic stacking of resistance genes against major pests and diseases, and accelerates marker development
Mycotoxins are toxic fungal food contaminants which pose an emerging health risk and major cost to cereal production. Regulatory mycotoxin limits in food are developed by the EU and UK, and significant data gaps exist in mycotoxin occurrence and risk factors impacting prevalence. This project has demonstrated frequent mycotoxin occurrence in Scottish cereals and cereal foods. Data on occurrence of regulated mycotoxins and mycotoxin metabolites have been submitted to the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland as well as the European Food Safety Authority. This evidence informs risk
Work undertaken in SRUC-E2-2 (Reimagined policy futures: Shaping sustainable, inclusive and just rural and island communities in Scotland) has reviewed the evolution of rural policies and policy approaches in Scotland. This work has informed policy design in Scotland - particularly the forthcoming Rural Delivery Plan and recently launched Rural Assessment Toolkit - and beyond, including the guidance that has been issued by the European Commission to shape the rural proofing activities of Member States, and by the WHO and OECD on rural proofing in global contexts. It has also led to involvement
Estimating future behaviours is a key uncertainty in policy planning. Farming practice adoption work has mainly focused on farmers, often ignoring how the practice would fit in the farm operations and the role of policy and industry. We are investigating how the ADOPT tool (https://adopt.csiro.au/), which considers these aspects, can be useful in policy planning and how, and whether, it can aid comparative discussions on policy interventions. We selected two practices of high interest for Scottish Government: cover crops and 3-NOP. The expert workshops confirmed that the tool can greatly
Scottish hill and upland sheep are adapted to produce high-quality protein from poor-quality marginal land. With increased focus on climate change, efficiency and environmental impact of livestock production, “Breeding and managing Scottish hill sheep to meet future economic, environmental and climatic challenges” assesses genetic selection and/or crossbreeding, alongside management strategies, to achieve these goals.
Through Diageo funding from 2023-2025 we undertook soil health testing across Scotland (20 farms and 80 fields) utilising biological, chemical and physical indicators of soil health. Ongoing and historic research within the strategic research programme supported the development of these agricultural soil health indicators and guided sampling. Developed indicators have been validated on our research platforms (for example the Centre for Sustainable Cropping and organic amendment platform) and at plot scales, supporting the deployment of robust indicators at farm and field scales. Data is now
Reform of Scottish Agricultural policies imply environmental objectives are incorporated within traditional goals of food security and farm income viability. However, setting realistic but ambitious targets across economic, environmental, and biophysical dimensions remains a major challenge for policymakers. We present work using four years of the Farm Business Survey data showing the use of estimation approaches to identify best practices across income, environmental and food security domains. This covers a range of methods, from estimation-based approaches to novel applications of machine
C4 WP4 research provides robust evidence to accelerate Scotland’s transition from single-use to reusable packaging. A national study on returnable packaging identified adoption-ready consumer segments, key behavioural barriers, and the packaging attributes that shape decisions. Complementary experiments on single-use cups demonstrated that a 25–30p charge can halve disposable use. Together, these findings specify charge thresholds, deposit structures, and targeting strategies. The pathway to impact lies in enabling policymakers to design effective reuse regulations, giving industry
This research project focusses on understanding the social and behavioural aspects of transition to a circular economy in Scotland. The project aims to better understand the dynamics of behaviour change over time from the perspective of individuals, households and organisations. A lack of data on uptake of household circular economy behaviours and an absence of available validated instruments to measure uptake across relevant behaviours led to the development of the Circular Behaviours Scale, drawing on knowledge of best practice in psychometric methods. This scale has been used in a national