I am delighted to officially welcome Alistair to Team BBRO as he took up a full-time, permanent, position with us on 1st November 2021 as a Crop Protection Scientist. Alistair is no stranger to BBRO or many growers as he has worked with us for several years now. For the past three years Alistair has been working as a Crop Protection Research Associate on a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) project funded by Innovate UK in partnership with BBRO and the University of Nottingham.
During his KTP project Alistair developed a range of new experimental approaches for BBRO to use to test and evaluate new varieties for enhanced yield performance under a range of foliar diseases and the beet yellowing viruses whilst introducing new capabilities to BBRO to phenotype crop growth using state of the art drones, crop sensors and computer software. Before his KTP project Alistair studied beet cyst nematode on a BBRO sponsored PhD at the University of Nottingham, investigating the interactions between different varieties of sugar beet and BCN.
Going forwards, Alistair will be working across the crop protection portfolio for sugar beet and importantly will continue to develop and lead projects looking for solutions to Virus Yellows amongst other relevant pests and diseases. When you next see Alistair, please do congratulate him on his appointment!
