Early in October, 18 members of IFST visited Rothamsted Research (Hertfordshire) accompanied by Robin Leaper (IFST's Digital Marketing Officer) assigned to record the event. The visit was sponsored by IFST and organised by Dr Ken Spears.
Rothamsted (www.rothamsted.ac.uk) conducts scientific research at the interface of agriculture and food science to add novel nutritional, health and bioeconomical value to crops and their products with the intention of developing solutions to worldwide challenges to growing crops, food-related diseases and human health.
Our key objectives for the visit were:
- to provide technical visits for members and students
- help inform members of current research
- promote networking and raise the profile of IFST with other food-related organisations.
Members have indicated in their feedback to surveys that they would like to visit research centres and commercial establishments in order to visualise how knowledge is used to create practical solutions to food security, processing, health and wellbeing challenges.
Our visit included a tour of the campus and 2 high-profile lectures given by a senior researcher and an internationally-renowned professor.
The tour included visits to laboratories and field sites. The lab visits included an analysis of soil and crops and a demonstration of an X-ray fluorescent spectrophotometer for rapid mineral analysis in crops. We also visited the soil archive which houses an extensive collection of soil samples dating back over a hundred years which enables researchers to monitor changes in soil conditions in agricultural areas.
The field sites included a description of the national willow collection – a plant of interest for potential medicinal properties – a weather station, insect monitoring equipment to provide early warnings to farmers of possible pest infestation and a field scanalyser which continuously monitors crop development for phenotypes in field trials.
Dr Anneke Prins gave an excellent lecture on “Improving dietary fibre content in wheat varieties to improve human health” describing the process of selecting suitable wheat varieties and the necessary compromise of nutritional quality versus yield. Professor Nigel Halford gave a fascinating account of current research into gene editing of wheat to modify the amino acid profile and reduce the formation of acrylamide (a carcinogen) during high-temperature food processing. The ensuing discussion included how research needs to lead to commercial exploitation if it is to attract funding and have an impact in the ‘real world’. Nigel also provided an update on current government proposals to allow gene-edited crops to be grown commercially.
It was clear from the questions posed by the members that they were engaged in the talks and their comments indicated how much they enjoyed the event.
Our thanks to the IFST executive for sponsoring our visit.
Dr Ken Spears (Ken.spears@aru.ac.uk)
If you’d like to organise a similar event with your branch, please contact our branch coordinator, Patricia Florit, at info@ifst.org.
