SOME of Britain's leading experts on crop research gathered on Friday, October 12, for the opening of a new state-of-the art glasshouse and controlled environment facility at the Institute of Arable Crops Research (IACR) in Rothamstead, Harpenden.

The ceremony signified the first stage of a £31 million re-development plan, which will eventually see the building of a new laboratory and energy centre, as well as the refurbishment of some of the IACR's existing facilities.

At the opening, Professor Edward Cocking, chairman of the Rothamstead board of directors, described the event as an exciting and historic day, and "the first stepping stone for Rothamstead to become the leading centre in the world for the environment".

He said: "I am excited by this new opportunity and there is nothing comparable to it."

One of the institute's main focuses is on developing research into crop supply and maintenance, which can then be used to assist in the more effective farming of crops, both in Britain and abroad.

The new controlled environment (CE) facilities will allow for greater accuracy in measuring variables such as lighting and humidity, when carrying out experiments on crops, so that research findings will be more useful in their applications.

They will take agricultural research to another level and has already provided improved conditions for insect breeding and pestcide spraying.

But the opening of the glass house and CE building by no means signal the end of the project, and the IACR is very much looking forward to the next stage of its plans which will be the construction of a new laboratory to house around 200 molecular biologists.

Dr Peter Doyle, chairman of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, which is partly funding the Institutes re-development programme, laid the foundation stone for the new building.

The building of the new laboratory will be just the second part of a four-stage plan which is hoped to be complete by October 2003 and which is expected to turn the institute into one of the world's leading research centres for agricultural research.

Professor Ian Crute of the IACR, who spoke at the opening, said the refurbishment plans were designed to keep up with the changes in the agricultural world and signalled a move into the future for the institute.

October 12, 2001 19:24

By Claire Ling