£13M to harness science for better crops

With the challenges to agriculture posed by climate change and an increasing need to grow and farm in sustainable ways the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) has awarded funding to 18 projects that will aim to address real-world issues. New research will exploit the world-class basic plant science and plant genetics in the UK to improve the sustainability of agriculture and look at problems including:

*How to grow crops able to cope with climate change

*How to breed vegetables that remain nutritious after days in the fridge

*How to grow more effective biofuels to help reduce the UK's dependence on fossil fuels.

*How to exploit plants more effectively to produce better bread, beer, biodegradable carrier bags and for other applications.

These and other projects funded by the BBSRC Crop Science Initiative are described in a full media briefing available at: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/media/pressreleases/07_01_09_croplaunch.html

Professor Julia Goodfellow, BBSRC Chief Executive, said: “The UK is home to some of the best plant science in the world. We want to harness this and exploit it to address some of the pressing issues that we face. BBSRC's aim is to support basic crop research that will produce outcomes to make farming more sustainable and able to meet the challenges of a changing environment.”

The BBSRC Crop Science Initiative follows an earlier review of the Council's support for crop science which found that UK crop research needed to better translate basic plant science into new crop varieties to help growers, industry and consumers. The projects announced today are intended to help do this.

Images to accompany this story are available to download from the BBSRC website. Please visit: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/media/pressreleases/07_01_09_croplaunch.html