News
Project to restore 'vital' seagrass around Scotland
A £2.4m seagrass planting programme has been launched to help restore the plant in seas around the north of Scotland.
The project aims to plant 14 hectares (34.6 acres) of seagrass, often described as a "wonder plant" by conservationists, over the next three years.
Source: BBC
Peatlands project to tackle greenhouse gas emissions
A major new project has been launched to tackle greenhouse gas emissions from drained peatlands.
SRUC is the UK lead in the EU-funded Horizon Europe project 'Socio-Economic and Climate and Environmental Aspects of Paludiculture' (Paludi4all) – the productive use of wet and rewetted peatlands.
New vertical farm a first for Scottish education
SRUC has stepped up its commitment to global and local food production and security by becoming the first higher education institution in Scotland to open a commercial-sized vertical farm.
Jim Fairlie MSP, Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity, officially opened the £1.8 million SRUC Vertical Farming Innovation Centre – which has received £200,000 from the Scottish Government – at the Edinburgh Campus of Scotland’s Rural College.
‘Cool Calf’ could help accelerate dairy journey to net zero
Hilda may look like an ordinary calf, but the sprightly, Scotland-born animal represents an historic moment for the world’s longest-running livestock genetics project and could help accelerate the dairy industry’s journey to net zero.
Why birth of IVF calf Hilda in Scotland is being hailed as a milestone for greener farming
Vets working on a project to breed more environmentally-friendly cows have described as “hugely significant” the birth of a calf using IVF, saying it could accelerate the dairy industry’s journey to net zero.
The calf, named Hilda, is part the Dumfries-based Langhill Herd, which has been a source of data for the UK dairy industry for more than half a century.
Source: The Scotsman
Lightbulb moment for fungi scientists
Researchers from SRUC and the Empa (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) St Gallen, Switzerland have successfully inserted the decay fungus Desarmillaria tabescens – a white rot fungus – into balsa wood to make it glow, with the aim of producing functionality.
World’s first GreenShed opens its doors
A world-first circular farming system which uses cattle waste to power a shed and grow indoor crops has opened its doors for the first time. More than 80 members of the beef industry attended the opening of GreenShed at Easter Howgate, an SRUC research farm near Edinburgh.
SRUC awarded £700k to measure cattle emissions
SRUC researchers have been awarded nearly £700,000 for equipment* which will form part of an ultra-modern research facility to measure emissions from beef cattle, supporting the UK Government’s goals to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Ingenza and Phibro Ethanol accelerate the green fuel transition
Ingenza and Phibro Ethanol – a division of Phibro Animal Health Corporation – have joined forces to engineer a novel yeast strain that will increase yield in the commercial production of bioethanol under both challenging and conventional environmental conditions, further driving the switch to clean biofuels.
Green light for £3m GreenShed
A state-of-the-art shed which will use cattle waste products to power a methane capturing system and grow indoor crops has received nearly £3 million from the UK Government through its Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP).