COP26: Fera's Support for UK Biosecurity and the Protection of the Natural Environment
At Fera, our extensive expertise in the development of novel (in-field) diagnostics for the detection of pests and pathogens is of paramount importance to UK biosecurity and the protection of our natural habitats and crops from invasive pests and diseases.
With a track-record of providing R&D capabilities across Crop, Pest Management and Pathology to improve crop health, maximise yield and sustainable production, we will deploy our science strategy across the fields of bacterial, fungal, viral, insect and nematode identification, as well as identifying pests and pathogens found in seeds, crops, plants and our natural landscape.
Enabling Innovative Technologies and Agri-Tech to Deliver Impact.
With vast experience in diagnostic tools based on nucleic acid- and antibody-based technologies, we also keep abreast of new and emerging technologies and have invested in several PhD studentships to that end. These are aimed at both the potential for significant impact on plant health, and for the deployment of testing technologies.
We seek to deliver many projects that include co-design and the adoption of technology by end-users, (for example, in the EU Horizon 2020-funded EMPHASIS). Fera is also a key partner in the EU funded VALITEST project which is implementing improvements in validation and tests and test performance studies which has resulted in EPPO (European Plant Protection Organisation) revising all its protocols on validation.
Ash Dieback
With healthy forests playing such a vital role in sequestering carbon from the atmosphere, we recognise the criticality of working to protect, identify and manage woodland pest and disease incursions in a fast and effective manner.
Our work with the development of the Ash Die Back tool kit and Local Action Plan enabled Fera to deliver knowledge to local authorities and to generate significant impact. To date, there have been over 20,000 downloads of the toolkit and resources have been secured by Local Authorities, currently in excess of £15M to better mitigate the threat of this devastating tree disease.
CropMonitor and CropMonitor Pro
The CropMonitor Pro (CMP) decision support platform delivers warning systems to create more resilient agriculture. After a decade of developing the CropMonitor platform at Fera, the CropMonitor Pro platform was developed by Fera for the UK Agri-Tech Centre for Crop Health and Protection (CHAP Ltd) and provides field level predictions on growth stage development, pest & disease risk and optimal spray timing using advanced risk models and pest and disease surveillance data.
Outputs summarise risks at the crop level, indicate the potential need for treatment at key growth stages and guide optimal treatment timing. In addition, CropMonitor and CropMonitor Pro aim to provide an efficient tool for a more risk-based approach to integrated pest management, avoiding unnecessary spray applications and improving timings of those essential ones thereby contributing to more sustainable farming with lower environmental impacts and increased climate change resilience.
If you would like to find out more about our science strategy, click here to download or view online.
Interested in how we can work together to mitigate climate change? With thanks to funding from the University of York, Andrew Swift, CEO of Fera, and Wendy Martindale will be attending COP26 in Glasgow from 6-9th November.
If you’re attending the event and want to find out more about how we can work together, click here to book a meeting.
