Chloe Cragg

During July and August 2020 UK plant health authorities became aware through social media of members of the public in the UK receiving packets of seed which had not been ordered by them.

Protecting Crops in a Challenging Future

Online Webinar Organised by SCI's Agrisciences group, IAFRI and CHAP

This conference is geared to all those working in the area of crop protection: farmers and growers; innovation start-up companies; established large corporations; academic researchers; and regulators. It will be especially appropriate for those working in:

• Areas of drones / AI / robotics / machine vision on farms; 

• Chemistry of crop protection, whether generic or new active substances; 

• Biology of crop protection, such as biostimulants or biopesticides; 

• Genetics of crop protection, breeding, gene editing and beneficial traits; 

• Promotion of good agricultural practice and agronomy; 

• Financing of new solutions, such as banks and venture capitalists; 

• Growing or farming for whom the issues of crop protection are real and present. 

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Register your place to attend the online webinar

Click here for more information and to register for this event

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The Future of British Farming - A National Conference

Digital Live Broadcast

Westminster Insight’s timely Future of Farming Conference will unite key stakeholders, as you'll explore the policy landscape, the likely implications of COVID-19 and Brexit and the Agriculture Bill.

You will learn how new technologies, consumer trends and environmental concerns are impacting the farming community, and gain innovative approaches to a more progressive, profitable and sustainable environment for British farmers.

Hear from guest speaker Andrew Swift, CEO at Fera Science Ltd, discussing Harnessing Emerging Technologies to Increase Productivity and Sound Environmental Stewardship:

• Using technological advances to increase yields and maximise farming productivity

• Utilising agricultural data to make forecasts and to encourage more calculated decisions in all aspects of their production, from product ordering to crop tending

• Understanding the economic benefits to the use of technologies such as robotics, GPS guidance, remote sensing and camera recognition

Click here to see the full agenda.

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Register your place to attend Westminster Insight's Future of British Farming Conference

Click here for more information and to register for this event

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Mass spectrometry (MS) in many different formats has been an essential tool for chemical and biological analysis for over 100 years, enabling vital breakthrough discoveries in fields ranging from nuclear research through to identifying novel biomarkers of cancer.

Contaminants and metals can occur naturally or as a result of human intervention. Whilst metals are part of our every-day life and some can even play an essential part to our health and well-being the same cannot be said for contaminants.

What happens when you combine a world class agri-food lab, an internationally recognised kitemark and Scottish honey - a Scottish honey set to take on its global rivals.

A substantial portion of food and drink packaging in current use is based on materials derived from petroleum feedstock, i.e. plastics. These fossil-carbon based materials have been developed to protect the packaged foodstuff from the external environment and so confer many of the necessary barrier properties. These are desirable attributes in the cause of minimizing food waste for economic, societal and environmental benefits.

At the outset of Covid, panic food buying saw our vegetable shelves emptied sending many of us to our local garden centres to buy seed. A combination of ‘Digging for Britain’ and the Good life. The lockdown then closed our garden centres and seed, as with all things, mostly became available to the public via the internet. Overnight, as UK garden centres and supply chains endeavoured to make themselves accessible to their customers online, the UK public awoke to the fact that they could browse and purchase online seed, even plants, from a myriad of alternative suppliers across the world.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health threat that is becoming critically important in many aspects of society. AMR is the evolution of microbes to become resistant to the drugs we use to control them – often this refers to bacteria becoming immune to the effects of antibiotics, but it can have a much broader definition (such as fungi becoming resistant to fungicides).

As consumers, we have the right to know what is in the food we buy and where our food is coming from. Yet today’s food chain is of unprecedented complexity and span, presenting greater risks in relation to safety and authenticity. So clear and correct labelling of food and drink products is vital.