Desert wadis are lifelines for biodiversity & water in dry landscapes, but they are being dangerously constricted. New research in Oman shows that agriculture and the dumping of debris are reshaping river dynamics. Full story: www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/human-a...

📣New Study: Collapse in UK insect populations may be overstated, but local communities are being reshaped by CC & development 🐝🪲🦋🦗🪰🐞@btobirds.bsky.social @uor-research.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social @ukceh.bsky.social @universityofleeds.bsky.social www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/insects...

The history of farm life at Rothamsted was the subject of display of old photos at the Manor as part of Heritage Open Day last weekend, including images of the laboratory, staff, chalk spreaders, ploughing and tractors. stalbanstimes.co.uk/harpenden/ro...

It was a great pleasure to host 15 of the @euinuk.bsky.social agrifood counsellors in London to campus this week. Lots of discussion around future crops and precision breeding...🧬🌱

We had a cracking weekend for the first @rothamsted.bsky.social #data hack. Great entries from the teams and somethings for us to think about on how we present our data! The winning team developed a data explorer for the long-term experiments, with potential to customise for different stakeholders.

***NEW*** #OpenAccess Change in Soil Macroporosity With Land Use and Its Effect on Soil Respiration Rickard, Zhang, Hossain, Mooney, Crawford, Neal & Whalley @ejsoilscience.bsky.social @rothamsted.bsky.social #soil #soilscience doi.org/10.1111/sum....

Long-Term N and P Boost Soil Carbon Storage - "The Broadbalk Classical Experiment continues to yield transformative insights into soil carbon dynamics under mineral fertilization" @scienmag.bsky.social scienmag.com/long-term-n-...

We have to listen 🎧 to the soil 🪱 In a new #FoodTakes 🥦 , Rye Hickman of Uni of Greenwich & @rothamsted.bsky.social describes the squelches, pops and clicks that come from the soil when examined with a 🎙 and how listening to the soil brings people together. Full video: buff.ly/17dLllc

BLOG - Women in wheat event provides training to address gender bias in wheat research This July saw the latest #WomenInWheat event, where 25 early career women researchers attended a JIC training event focused on addressing gender bias in the UK and internationally www.jic.ac.uk/blog/women-i...

How much value do you place on soil organic amendments? Nice article from the Centre for High Carbon Capture Cropping @niab-uk.bsky.social by our own Ian Shield, based on data from our newest long term experiment on re-gen farming... b8b40240-cedc-4431-94d2-4d0998744f4d.usrfiles.com/ugd/f049db_6...

Pre-emergence weed control in wheat - what to consider this season @farmersweeklyuk.bsky.social including top tips form our blackgrass expert Richard Hull... www.fwi.co.uk/arable/crop-...

Healthier wheat developed at Rothamsted among gene-edited foods coming to supermarkets www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08...

It is smaller than your fingernail, but this hairy beetle is one of the biggest single threats to the UK's forests - great to see our chemical ecology research cited in this BBC report www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Climate, diseases, crises: How wheat becomes more robust and yield-reliable. Nice German article on the future of wheat, quoting our own Nimai Senapati: "Global wheat production could be doubled through genetic improvement" 🧬🌱 www.transgen.de/forschung/28...

Sometimes scientists learn a lot more from experiments that don't work than those that do. A new study with @ufrgs.br has shown that a common genetic tweaking technique does not work in rice...but this could open the door to more innovation @plantenv.bsky.social www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/rices-r...

Great to see our historic Park Grass experiment still influencing research into the effects of fertilizer on grassland biodiversity in this new study from @ufz.de www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Huge congratulations to Dr Kelly Jowett for bagging the @royentsoc.bsky.social Alfred Wallace Award for her PhD thesis on carabid beetles in farm landscapes 🪲🎉🍾👏 Interested in doing a PhD at Rothamsted? Check out current opportunities here 👇 www.rothamsted.ac.uk/studentships

Register for tomorrows British Society of Soil Science’s Zoom into #Soil #webinar where we will be joining Paul Harris @rothamsted.bsky.social & Catherine Broomfield from University of Exeter to talk about #LTEs. More: https://bit.ly/46RfC25 🌍 @rothamsted-lte.bsky.social

We have to listen 🎧 to the soil 🪱 In a new #FoodTakes 🥦 , Rye Hickman of Uni of Greenwich & @rothamsted.bsky.social describes the squelches, pops and clicks that come from the soil when examined with a 🎙 and how listening to the soil brings people together. Full video: buff.ly/17dLllc

"Being able to witness this sacred site, where so many foundational studies of modern agronomy were born has given me a new perspective on the inheritance and innovation of agricultural science" Ban Miaofei, soil science PhD student, Huazhong Ag Uni news.hzau.edu.cn/info/1011/44...

Global Tipping Points Conference Statement 2025 - Important overview of this meeting, endorsed by our own Prof Simon Willcock www.defenddemocracy.press/global-tippi...

Wheat in soils with low microbial diversity are more vulnerable to diseases, but beneficial bacteria can be more effective in these conditions- interesting study by @embrapa.bsky.social in collaboration with @morkers76.bsky.social of our soil microbiome team... www.embrapa.br/busca-de-not...

On the 27 August, we'll be participating in the British Society of Soil Science’s Zoom into #Soil #webinar joining Paul Harris @rothamsted.bsky.social & Catherine Broomfield from University of Exeter to talk about the North Wyke Farm Platform. More: bit.ly/46RfC25 @rothamsted-lte.bsky.social #LTE🌎

🎧ICYMI catch Rothamsted's Richard Hull advising on blackgrass control strategies in this week's @FarmersWeekly podcast...item starts at 34' 52" www.fwi.co.uk/farmers-week...

Farming carbon or farming fools? Nice to see our long term experiments mentioned in this feature about soil carbon... arr.news/2025/08/08/f...

One of the World’s Oldest Experiments is This Patch of Grass youtu.be/bFXd7EIXiiA?...

World’s longest-running experiment has important message for farmers... www.northernfarmer.co.uk/news/2535888...

‘Leave it to nature’: how enticing insects to kill off pests helped cut reliance on pesticides - great to see our own IPM expert @samcook-ipm.bsky.social quoted...🐝🌱🚜 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

We have to listen 🎧 to the soil 🪱 In a new #FoodTakes 🥦 , Rye Hickman of Uni of Greenwich & @rothamsted.bsky.social describes the squelches, pops and clicks that come from the soil when examined with a 🎙 and how listening to the soil brings people together. Full video: buff.ly/17dLllc

Understanding swarming behaviour helps us manage crop pests - so we can learn a lot from modelling bird murmurations. New analysis finds that sharp flock borders arise from simple interactions—not from complex survival strategies 🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛ Full story 👇 www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/why-bir...

Why is phosphorus such a vital nutrient and can sustainable and productive use be achieved in Africa? Global P summit in Ghana this September aims to find out 🌱🚜 @ukceh.bsky.social @lancasteruni.bsky.social Full story 👇 www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/global-...

📺Look out for Rothamsted Manor posing as impressive student digs in the new TV drama "My Oxford Year". In earlier decades, young scientists were billeted here, but the grade 1 listed pile is now used for weddings, events & (ahem) film locations. www.timeout.com/news/my-oxfo...

Can basalt rock dust boost crop yields AND fight climate change? Early pot-based results of major study suggest it can - but soil type is crucial... @inrae-france.bsky.social 👇Full story www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/rock-du...

How do the microplastics in our bodies affect our health? Interesting feature drawing on evidence from our long term experiments www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

Congratulations to the Science Museum team on a fabulous exhibit - was a great pleasure to be invited to the launch this morning and to see some of our historic (and more recent!) artifacts on display...

Great to welcome Shadow Chancellor and MP for Central Devon, Mel Stride to our North Wyke Campus yesterday for a briefing on our research into climate resilient agriculture - pictured here with Science Director Adie Collins

Is our food less nutritious than it used to be? The answer is complex, but higher yielding modern cereal varieties may have less dense nutrient profiles, according to studies based on samples from our long term experiments... www.lapresse.ca/actualites/s...

Great to see the RothC model used for this new study of Lithuanian soil carbon from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14...

📢New paper! Ecosystem collapse depends on internal complexity, like magnetic materials under stress. @cp-oneearth.bsky.social @unisouthampton.bsky.social @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social 🧲🌍 Full story: www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/why-som...

Huge congratulations to Professor Lin Field who received her CBE from King Charles at Windsor Castle this week - pictured here with her niece Fiona Hammond. 🏅👑🍾🎉

Congratulations to our team at the @britmycolsoc.org.uk 2025 conference @royalholloway.bsky.social. Fareed Bhatti & Patrick McClean won runner-ups for best ECR short talk & poster respectively. Thanks also to Jason Rudd, Chair of the Fungal Biology Research Committee who helped organise the conf.

ICYMI: BBSRC launches refreshed Forward Look #BBSRC #AcademicSky

📢 PROJECT ANNOUNCEMENT 📢 🌳 Our scientists are studying whether resistance to ash dieback helps or hinders ash trees against the emerald ash borer beetle. 🏅Goal: breed resilient UK ash trees. Read more: forestprotection.uk/project/cfp2... #ForestProtection #TreeHealth #PlantHealth

From today's #DailyNewsDigest📰: "I think it’s about finding that balance going forward, and really not trying to make it a polarising debate where farmers either use herbicide or use a plough." – @rothamsted.bsky.social wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk/features/the...

Nice to see Rothamsted long-term soil data used by these German researchers looking at microplastics in soil cen.acs.org/environment/...

How camera tech is speeding up dung beetle ID on-farm www.fwi.co.uk/livestock/gr...

🎧Farm Gate podcast: In-the-field at Groundswell. Can farming escape glyphosate? With @microbass.bsky.social 8point9.com/farm-gate-po...

Thanks to Andy Gray and Kelly Jowett @rothamsted.bsky.social for their talk on 'Regenerative allies - beetles cattle and trees' yesterday #Groundswell25 🎥Keep an eye out for the session video coming out soon! ✍️ Sign up to our newsletter to keep updated agricology.co.uk/sign-our-e-n...

Interested in #agdata? Then join us at the @rothamsted.bsky.social data hackathon using the rich long-term data from our Long-term experiments, North Wyke Farm Platform and Insect Survey @rothamsted-lte.bsky.social, @thefarmplatform.bsky.social www.tickettailor.com/events/rotha...

Its been yet another hot, dry week here in the UK... the perfect time to highlight this new #openaccess review from Nigel Halford's group @rothamsted.bsky.social on transport of ABA - the original #drought stress hormone 🌱 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...