Invergowrie, Dundee, Scotland
October 6, 2010

Scotland’s world-renowned centre for crop research based at Invergowrie, Dundee - will be the star of the small screen this week when BBC Scotland’s Landward shows three programmes showcasing the institute’s work.

Presenter and celebrity chef Nick Nairn and the Landward team spent two days filming in and around SCRI earlier this year. They visited both the Invergowrie headquarters and laboratories and the organisation’s Balruddery Farm in Angus where pioneering work on sustainable farming methods are being trialled.

Each of the three programmes focuses on one area of SCRI’s research: potatoes, soft fruit and barley. Nick met and interviewed a wide range of staff to help show the breadth of the work done at SCRI and the important contribution it makes to the contents of shoppers’ baskets and the Scottish and UK economies.

Some of the topics covered include the development of healthy ‘barleybread’, the globally important seed-bank known as the Commonwealth Potato Collection, SCRI’s research on crop pests and diseases and the amazing health benefits of berries.

Many members of SCRI staff feature in the programmes from farm staff to nutritionists and commercial staff and specialists in pests and diseases. The work of SCRI’s commercial subsidiary, Mylnefield Research Services, also features in the series of films.

The programmes will be shown on consecutive Fridays on BBC2 Scotland starting this Friday, 8 October, at 8 pm.

The Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment Research and Analysis Directorate (RERAD) invests more than £13 million annually in the work of SCRI, as part of overall funding to its main research providers through the current research strategy. Next April, SCRI will merge with the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute in Aberdeen to form a new powerhouse for research into food, land use and climate change.

Website: http://www.scri.sari.ac.uk

Published: October 6, 2010