Sectors

Barley
Agriculture
With plentiful rain and long summer day lengths, Scotland produces some of the highest yielding and best quality crops in the world. But conditions that promote good crop growth are often good for pests and pathogens too and in Scotland 15-20% of our crops are lost to pests and diseases annually.
Snail on leaf
Environment
Scotland has a remarkable assemblage of species and habitats with Atlantic, montane, boreal, arctic-alpine, and oceanic habitats in close proximity. However, pests and pathogens represent an increasing threat to these natural assets, and a particular challenge is the sheer complexity of the diversity of the natural environment in terms of the number of species that may be impacted.
trees on river
Forestry
The sector represents a major component of Scotland’s rural economy – providing significant employment and raw materials for wood processing industries. Sustainable forest management seeks to deliver these economic benefits alongside important ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and flood mitigation, provision of wildlife habitat and opportunities for recreation and a range of leisure activities. Pests and diseases threaten the continued long-term delivery of these benefits.
Daffodils
Horticulture
Scotland is renowned for the quality of its private and public horticultural collections, and its rich cultural history of plant collecting, allotments and gardening. Horticultural plantings are of significant economic value, as well as providing amenity, health and well-being, cultural and conservation resources. However, pest and pathogens represent a major threat to this highly diverse set of plantings.

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DENDROCTONUS MICANS. Fully mature adult beetle. © Crown Copyright. Forestry Commission

Import/Export Advice from DERFA - No Deal Brexit

There is a distinct possibility that the UK could leave the EU under a "no-deal" scenario.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has produced guidance documents to guide importers and exporters of plant products to help they determine, if there is a no deal Brexit, what the changes to import and export processes might mean for business.
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Dothistroma needle blight [Image courtesy of Joanne Taylor]

Development of an online, user friendly plant health resource bank for the Scottish Natural Environment

The aim of the project PHC2018/11 was to compile a resource to be embedded within the Scottish Plant Health Centre (PHC) website, with the following three main purposes: 1) To direct users to existing, comprehensive and reliable plant health information resources; 2) To provide information on selected plant health threats to the natural environment, particularly invasive non-native species; and 3) To direct users to appropriate government agencies and resources and advise users on steps to take should a suspected statutory pest or disease be encountered.

Webpages have been developed which provide the following:

1) a listing of the first most pressing plant health threats to the natural environment in Scotland;

2) a user-friendly web template, populated with links to information about these major threats and other topics relevant to plant health in the Scottish natural environment; and

3) summary pages providing guidance on biosecurity and control of diseases in this sector, for which other resources were not easily available.

 

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Our Highlighted Event

Symptoms 2 Sequences
Symptoms 2 Sequences: Practical Training in Plant Diagnostics
11 Sep 2019, 9am - 5pm

RBGE are running a workshop in Practical Plant Diagnostics on Wednesday 11th September 2019. PhD students, researchers, agronomists, horticulturalists, and anyone interested in plant diseases are invited to this one-day workshop covering:  

● core diagnostic skills

● diseases in crops, trees, and ornamental plants

● remote sensing and surveillance

● advances in molecular detection.

The workshop costs £65 including lunch and you can register for the event using the following link:

http://bit.ly/2MweQ0W

More information can be found in the flyer below:

S2S_RBGE_2019_Flyer_0.pdf

PhD students, researchers, agronomists, horticulturalists, and anyone interested in plant diseases are invited to a one-day workshop on practical techniques in plant diagnostics covering core diagnostic skills; diseases in crops, trees, and ornamental plants; remote sensing and surveillance and