Bioscience research council BBSRC and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), working with industry partners, have allocated £1m for projects aiming to translate research findings into tools or technologies that will benefit the UK's farming industry.

The research projects that have been granted funding include:

• An SRUC/ James Hutton Institute project applying research findings to enhance Barley Integrated Disease Management;
• A knowledge exchange system, backed by research institutes and industry groups including the NFU to support UK growers in sustainable crop protection;
• A Joint project running between Rothamsted Research Institute and Lancaster University looking at measuring plant available phosphorus to increase crop yields and minimise nutrient leaching; and
• Two separate projects on biosolids, one at Cranfield University, Enhancing nutrient use efficiency to improve crop production, and another at Rothamsted looking at mitigating leaching and denitrification  

The grants were funded as part of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Innovation Club (SARIC), which was formed to support projects that will provide solutions to key challenges affecting agriculture, as identified by the Club's industry partners.

Professor Iain Gillespie, NERC's Director of Science and Innovation said, "Major global challenges like food security are ones that a single discipline like 'environment' or 'bioscience' cannot solve alone. If we are ever going to address them, and indeed overcome them, then forging strong, multi-disciplinary partnerships between research councils and industry is vital.

"The investment in these projects marks the next step in us working together to deliver world-leading research, effective innovation and relevant benefits to society and the economy."

The research councils have said that, over the course of the five year public-private partnership, SARIC will allocate approximately £10 million to different projects.