Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

New projects to look at potato pest and seawater farms

SoilEssentials will lead the potato project.
SoilEssentials will lead the potato project.

A project to tackle a major potato pest and work to develop seawater farming systems in the west of Scotland have launched.

The potato project, led by Angus-based precision farming firm SoilEssentials, aims to develop ways to tackle the spread of potato cyst nematode (PCN).

The pest is one of the most serious threats to the Scottish potato sector and estimates suggest the amount of land affected by one species of PCN has been doubling every six to seven years.

In partnership with farmers, Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA), Scottish Agronomy Ltd and McCain Foods, SoilEssentials will work to develop a new soil sampling approach and farmers will be given training on how to proactively manage PCN.

SoilEssentials managing director, Jim Wilson, said the company hoped to prove and commercialise an integrated pest management (IPM) concept for tackling PCN.

“It is critical in developing a system that will provide Scottish potato growers with a precision agriculture tool to manage their land bank for growing seed potato crops,” added Mr Wilson.

Meanwhile, Glasgow-based Seawater Solutions Ltd is working on a project to develop fully operational seawater farms across Scotland, which could be used to grow high-value salt tolerant vegetables such as samphire.

The firm said seawater farming systems redevelop unused land into rich artificial wetlands to tackle problems such as coastal erosion, soil degradation and carbon emissions.

Both projects received support from the Collaborative Innovation Fund, run by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.