Public Funding for Ymgynghorwyr Lisk & Jones CYF

**POSTCOVA** is a 9-month research programme developing emerging solutions to secure post-COVID recovery and development of the agricultural sector in Wales. This will significantly improve productivity while reducing the environmental impacts of vegetable production. **POSTCOVA** directly addresses the COVID-related disruption of the wider UK vegetable supply chain by providing technologies to immediately improve current vegetable farming productivity in Wales; currently lower than the potential like much of the UK. This will improve the country's food security and provide the potential for rural job security and further employment for those losing jobs in other sectors. **POSTCOVA** will obtain field trial data validating novel disruptive technologies geared to boost farming production efficiency and improving soil carbon reserves while reducing greenhouse gas emissions (nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide), runoff of nutrients into watercourses and over/inefficient use of pesticides and fertilisers. **POSTCOVA** aims to improve the productivity of key cultivated vegetables in Wales (potatoes, leeks, cabbages, cauliflowers, Brussels sprouts and carrots). To deliver the above a Welsh-centred consortium has been formed and is led by Emerald Research (a soil science, precision agriculture and biostimulant developer & innovator) with biopesticide advice and management provided by Lisk and Jones (entomological specialists and biocontrol experts). The consortium will benefit from technical, operational and trials support from Puffin Produce currently the largest supplier of Welsh produce in Wales, supplying a wide variety of potatoes and other seasonal vegetables to multiple major retailers and wholesalers under the banner "Blas y Tir" (Taste of the Land) with further project, academic and research support from the Biocomposites Centre at Bangor University.

Contamination of water supplies due to pesticide run-off is a major problem in Brazil. This is particularly severe in cotton-growing areas because of the large amounts of pesticide used against insect pests such as the boll weevil. Furthermore, the cost of pesticides required has lead to a halving of the area of cotton grown with a consequent loss of income for farmers, particularly in the poorer North East of the country. This project brings together UK and Brazilian commercial and academic partners with the aim of developing a lure-and-kill technology for control of boll weevil and other pests. This contains a pheromone to attract specifically the target pest and a low loading of insecticide or biopesticide to kill it. The devices will be constructed of novel biodegradable polymers so that they are simple and cheap to manufacture and deploy and do not need to be collected in at the end of the season. The devices will be field tested in Brazil and registered by the Brazilian partners. Their use should greatly reduce the amount of insecticide applied to cotton and give reduced contamination of groundwater, better and cheaper pest control and improved livelihoods for cotton growers.