Processors & Growers Research Organisation

Vining peas for the frozen market are grown in the Eastern region of the UK on approximately 35,000 ha, from Suffolk and Norfolk through Lincolnshire, East Yorkshire, the Borders and into the East of Scotland. Although there has been much development in vining pea genetics and resilience over the years, there has been little recent work to evaluate the ef...

Vining peas for the frozen market are grown on approximately 35,000 ha in the UK, in the Eastern region from Suffolk and Norfolk through Lincolnshire, East Yorkshire, the Borders and into the East of Scotland. Following previous work that identified the key viruses in UK peas, this project will develop a better understanding of virus epidemiology in peas,...

**SECURESeed II: Scaling Sustainable Seed Coatings for Field Trials** is a critical project aimed at addressing the urgent need for sustainable plant protection products. This highly innovative project is focused on improving the performance of **Plant Beneficial Microbes (PBMs)** through advanced seed coating technology using 100% plastic free, natural a...

There are growing market demands for plant-based proteins and crops that add diversity to the crop rotation. This reflects consumer trends towards "sustainable" foods and the need for farmers to increase incomes whilst reducing environmental impacts. In these respects, field beans provide considerable opportunity. They naturally fix nitrogen (N), can be u...

The aim of BELIS is (i) to increase the competitiveness of the EU and Associated Countries legume breeding industry by improving the methodologies and the governance structures of the breeding sector; (ii) to design conditions that allow an efficient delivery of the achieved genetic progress to the breeders and seed industry, and to the other actors (regi...

The UK Processors and Growers Research Organisation will lead this ambitious national research programme with 200 UK farms and 18 partners to design an environmentally transformative, economically sustainable arable rotation system to optimise crop rotations for climate benefit. UK farming accounts for 10% of the UK's total GHG emissions p/a (46.3 MT), 68...

The biggest consumer trend in the UK food sector is in plant-based food, with sales of meat alternatives expected to be £1.1 billion by 2024, with a 30% year to year growth, and £565 million for dairy alternatives (48% and 38% growth year on year for milk and cheese alternatives, respectively). Currently the largest source of plant-based protein is soy de...

Vining peas mature rapidly in warm weather and must therefore be harvested within a 1-2-day window to ensure optimal tenderness and high quality. Once harvested, they must be transported and frozen within 150 minutes to maintain this quality. These limitations often lead to inefficient processing schedules and wasteful crop bypassing during periods of rap...

Midges and weevils are significant global pests of legume food production. Management of these pests provides a potentially lucrative and growing market in the pest management industry globally, including in the UK, continental Europe, North Africa and North America, where these pest problems are well established. Management of midges and weevils is probl...

To address wastage and processing inefficiencies in vining peas by predicting yield and quality to enable efficient scheduling of harvest and processing.

"Each year the UK imports \>3Million Tonnes of soya protein for use in the pig, poultry and dairy sectors, 98% from South America (the growth of soy plantations being a key factor in the forced eviction of many rural communities, excessive pesticide use and deforestation). It is widely recognised that the UK could cut its dependency on imported soya by \>...

Foot rot disease in peas causes great yield losses and reduces the quality of peas. The disease is caused by several pathogens in soils which cannot be chemically controlled. Severity of disease is determined by pathogen levels in soils, soil structure and weather conditions. Measuring pathogen levels in soil before planting peas holds the potential to re...