The James Hutton Institute

The Scottish seed potato industry, valued at £24.2m, produces approximately 51,200 tonnes of potato haulms annually as a by-product of seed potato cultivation. These haulms, essential for stopping tuber growth, are typically discarded in the field. However, they offer significant untapped potential, producing a high-value compound, Solanesol, used in the ...

_To achieve clean power by 2030 and Net Zero by 2050, UK food production must move away from fossil fuels. With approximately 209,000 farm holdings in 2023, energy networks must adapt prepared to meet different future rural energy demands driven by greenhouse gas reductions and climate change adaptation._ _The Future Agriculture Resilience Mapping (FARM) ...

With its extensive nutrient-rich coastline and world-leading expertise in industrial biotechnology innovation, marine science, and aquaculture, Scotland has the potential to lead the UK and the western world in the development of a sustainable seaweed farming industry. Sustainably farmed seaweed can be processed in innovative biorefineries, producing mult...

This project aims to create innovative filters using live saprotrophic fungi to tackle pollutants from farming activities before they impact freshwater environments. It addresses the challenge of nitrates and phosphates, byproducts from livestock manure and agricultural fertilisers, which are essential for crop production but detrimental to water quality ...

This project aims to enhance low-energy methodologies for producing cultivated kelp (Saccharina latissima) extracts, building on the advancements made by Algapelago and partners in the Farming Futures Low Energy Kelp (LEK) project (10087489). Working with partners Atlantic Mariculture, James Hutton Institute and UK Agri-tech Centre, our goal is to validat...

The "Digital Manure Management" project aims to revolutionise the way farmers manage manure applications by integrating cutting-edge sensor technology, real-time data analytics, and a user-friendly digital platform. **Objectives:** 1. **Ensure compliance with regulations**: Develop a software platform that helps farmers comply with manure management regul...

IPMorama will improve the state of the art in variety-centric Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for important diseases in the wheat (rust pathogens), potatoes (blight) and the grain legumes soybean, pea (broomrape) and white lupin (anthracnose). IPMorama seeks to develop the infrastructure for a whole “practice ecosystem”, whereby the more efficient develo...

FarmBalance will establish an Intelligence-as-a-Service (IntaaS) platform that merges environmental and commercial data to allow farms to increase their resilience and the value of their natural capital and monetise this through their supply chains. This will be developed using a 650-acre calibration site in Northeast Scotland, anchored to the wider Scotc...

Healthy, high-quality potatoes are the foundation of the UK's annual 4.8M tonne potato production. For seed potatoes, the SPCS (seed potato clarification scheme) inspects the quality of seed potatoes throughout the production chain to the point of sale. Unhealthy seed may result in downgrades, reducing income, or even total rejection of crop. Loss or infe...

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning based mapping, derived from remotely sensed data, presents a significant opportunity within the environmental field. These technologies can replace manual digitising of features in imagery, and map larger areas to a finer granularity than is possible using traditional techniques such as Geospatial Information S...

The soft-fruit industry has changed almost beyond recognition over the past 20 years, with average yields of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries increasing 172%, 98% and 118% per ha respectively between 2000 and 2019, driven primarily by the switch to soil-less (substrate) protected cultivation. The sector is valued at £2.2bn annually with year-on-y...