United Kingdom
27th September 2024
The role of the John Innes Centre in supporting crop breeders and farmers has been recognised with a prestigious award for one of its leading wheat researchers.
Dr Simon Griffiths, group leader at the John Innes Centre and programme lead for the Delivering Sustainable Wheat Institute Strategic Programme (ISP), is the 2024 winner of the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) award for Science and Technology.
He was among six members of the agricultural community to receive an award from RASE at their recent annual awards ceremony, recognising outstanding contributions to the agricultural industry.
The awards – this year hosted at Courteenhall Estate, Northamptonshire – stress the importance of leadership, innovation, and best practice.
Dr Griffiths’ research group employs modern gene discovery techniques to find useful genetic diversity from the A. E Watkins collection of bread wheat landraces, an assembly of historic bread wheat seeds from 32 countries, with huge genetic variation in comparison to modern wheat varieties.
The genetic diversity found in these locally adapted wheats can be used to improve modern wheat, using genomic tools such as gene editing to enhance nutritional value, disease resistance and climate resilience.
Working closely with the crop breeding industry, Dr Griffith’s group and partners in the Designing Future Wheat ISP developed a Breeders’ Toolkit which prioritises improvements needed in the field.
“I am delighted to be the first John Innes Centre researcher to win the RASE Science and Technology medal. It shows that the work we are doing with the Watkins Collection is having a real impact for wheat breeders and that our innovative science is meeting farmers’ needs,” he said.
“I was particularly pleased to be nominated for this award by the breeding company Limagrain. We should be proud of the partnerships we have forged with industry and the fact that leading companies are putting their faith and resources into our research,” he added.
The award comes at an exciting time for Dr Griffiths, his colleagues at the John Innes Centre, and the global community of wheat researchers.
Last month a major research collaboration led by the John Innes Centre highlighted the increasingly significant role that the Watkins Collection can play in modern wheat production.
Appearing in the journal Nature, the study revealed that 60% of modern wheat lacked the genetic diversity found in the Watkins Collection and that by using genomic techniques it could be transferred back into current wheat varieties.
Professor Graham Moore FRS, Director of the John Innes Centre, said: “This is a richly deserved award for Simon at an exciting time for the international wheat community. It is another example of the trust and respect that breeders and farmers hold for the research of the John Innes Centre and its global network of research partners.”
Other recipients of RASE Awards for 2024 include Baroness Minette Batters, the former president of the National Farmers’ Union, who received the National Agricultural Award.
David Grint, CEO at RASE, said: “Each of the 2024 winners are exemplary leaders in their own right.”
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