May 28, 2012

 

UK gives US$393 million to boost agricultural research

 

 

A GBP250 million (US$393 million) boost by the UK Government's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council has been given to agricultural research.

 

The funding includes GBP23 million (US$36 million) to Edinburgh University's Roslin Institute for animal health and welfare work as well as the setting up of a new centre aimed at tackling the two poultry infections which cause hundreds of thousands of humans to fall ill every year.

 

There is GBP42 million (US$66 million) for the John Innes Centre, Rothamsted Research and university partners for new wheat varieties.

 

The Institute for Animal Health at Pirbright also receives GBP38 million (US$59.7 million) to control diseases spread by insects, such as bluetongue and African horse sickness.

 

The five-year funding programme was announced by UK universities and science minister David Willets to Cambridge's Babraham Research Campus, which will receive GBP38 million (US$59.7 million). Roslin director Professor David Hume was delighted with its cash.

 

He added: "This new funding will enable us to undertake research that will lead to gains in the sector at a time when food production practices must be refined to accommodate the expanding world population."

 

The cash will support the Roslin's ARK Genomics - the UK's main centre for livestock genetics and genomics.

 

It will also fund a multimillion pound national avian research facility, being set up on Edinburgh University's Easter Bush campus with the Institute for Animal Health. It will study the biology of salmonella and campylobacter, two of the main causes of food poisoning in humans.

 

The centre's research will focus on developing vaccines and treatments to improve the health and welfare of the one billion chickens raised in the UK annually, as well as studying ways of reducing the impact of poultry infections on human health.

 

That builds on work already being done by the Food Standards Agency and the poultry sector to reduce campylobacter infections which affect about 500,000 people in the UK annually, resulting in 15,000 being admitted to hospital and 75 deaths.

 

The sickness rate has increased by 35% since 2005, but experts fear six out of seven cases go unreported.

 

NFU Scotland animal health policy manager Penny Johnston said: "This award to the Roslin Institute, secured against a tight fiscal backdrop, will progress some areas that are hugely important to our livestock and food sectors. Animal genetics are the cornerstone of any livestock production system and breeding disease resistance into our stock offers a real opportunity to improve efficiency at a farm level.

 

"That dovetails with planned work on the damaging poultry diseases campylobacter and salmonella. Having new treatments or vaccines available at farm level would not only improve the health of birds but could help tackle diseases that are serious human health problems."

 

Johnston said vaccine development and genomics were potential solutions to growing worldwide concerns about human resistance to drugs and antimicrobial products used in agricultural production.