Anne opens national seed store

Scotland’s National Seed Store was officially opened yesterday by the Princess Royal on a visit to Invergowrie, near Dundee.

The facility was described by Professor Peter Gregory, the director of the Scottish Crop Research Institute where it is based, as an important link in helping to feed the world.

The store houses seed and germplasm collections that are of global importance in the struggle to protect biodiversity and it forms the third phase of a major modernisation programme at the research station.

SCRI has bases at Invergowrie and Kinross. During her visit, Princess Anne met some of the 350 staff and workers at SCRI which has a worldwide reputation in crop breeding and science. She also paid a visit to the research institute’s farm at Balruddery, Angus.

The 290-acre farm carries the official title of centre for sustainable cropping and is part of a 20-year experiment to find ways of growing more and healthier crops with fewer resources and minimum damage to the natural environment and biodiversity.

Prof Gregory outlined the significant economic contribution SCRI makes to Scotland and the UK. He said: “The soft fruit and potato varieties we breed here have become market leaders. We are making major inroads in the fight against crop pests and diseases that cost farmers millions of pounds. We are also very proud to be part of Dundee and Scotland’s thriving life-science sector.”

He said the institute was now working on getting new facilities that will be used in research related to climate change, adding: “We are looking at new ways of recording size and shapes of plants so that we can do so as fast as we are at recording genes.”

Prof Gregory also confirmed that work was progressing towards the link-up between SCRI and the Macaulay Land Use Institute in Aberdeen.

This will form a new, food, land and climate-change research organisation which will be the first of its kind in Europe and one of the biggest such centres in the UK.