Across the world we face growing issues of food security and nutrition. Agri-science is one of the eight great technologies where the UK can link research strength to practical application to farming practices and the food industry. This project focuses on improving outcomes in primary production, and hence food security, by using advanced technologies to facilitate efficiency benchmarking for both productivity and environmental performance. The hypothesis we will investigate is that historic data patterns can be used to support farmers’ decision making, a positive impact on global food security in a sustainable way. High resolution data measurements will be evaluated in large scale and smallholder agriculture at locations in Zambia and the UK. Syngenta, AGCO, the University of Aberystwyth and the University of Southampton are working with other academic and international development organisations to deliver the project.

Soft materials include colloids, polymers, emulsions, foams, surfactant solutions, powders, and liquid crystals. Domestic examples are (respectively) paint, engine oil, mayonnaise, shaving cream, shampoo, talcum powder and the slimy mess that appears when a bar of soap is left in contact with a water. High tech examples of each type are used in drug delivery, health foods, environmental cleanup, electronic displays, and in many other sectors of the economy. Soft materials also include the lubricant that stops our joints scraping together; blood; mucus, and the internal skeleton that controls the mechanics of individual cells. The intention of this Programme is to use a combination of theoretical and experimental work, alongside large scale computer simulation, to establish scientific design principles that will allow the creation of a new generation of soft materials demanded by 21st Century technologies. This will require significant advances in our scientific understanding of the generic, as well as the specific, connections between how a material is made and what its final properties are. As soft materials become more complex and sophisticated, they will increasingly involve microstructured and composite architectures created from components that may be living, synthetic, or a combination of the two. The design principles we seek will ultimately allow scientists to start from a specification of the interactions between these components, and then create new materials by intentional design, rather than simply trying out various ideas and hoping that one of them works. There could be great rewards from being able to do this. Even in long-established industries (such as the food industry, home cleaning, personal care products, paints etc.) products made of soft materials are continually being updated or replaced. This is often in order to make them healthier, safer, or more environmentally friendly to produce. Currently, however, the process of developing new soft materials, or improving existing ones, usually involves a large element of trial and error. A set of design principles, based on secure fundamental science, could speed up that process. This would reduce costs, increase competitiveness, and improve the well-being of consumers. The benefits would be even greater in new and emerging industries such as renewable energy. Soft composite materials have many potential applications for use in high-energy low-weight batteries; low cost solar cells; hydrogen fuel cells; and possibly biofuels. However the design requirements for these applications are demanding, and often involve quite complex microstructures with specific functionality. The same applies in other emerging areas, such as industrial biotechnology and tissue engineering, where soft materials are used to create specific environments in which enzymes, cells or other live components can be used to perform particular tasks. As well as shortening lead-times and costs, by establishing the general principles needed to put new design ideas into practice, we hope to allow innovative soft-matter products to be created that otherwise might never come to market at all.

The project will enable growers to produce more food with fewer inputs, through an integrated farm management strategy. This optimises the Crop Protection (CP) using a network of in-field biosensors which then interact to form a UK, and international, infrastructure. This will be combined with the dual-action disease control and crop enhancement offered by a subset of CP chemistries. Initial adoption will be for Sclerotinia in UK Oil Seed Rape (OSR) integrated with Syngenta's dual-mode Amistar chemistry. UK technology companies will manufacture the sensor nodes which then link, alongside satellite crop-usage data, into a GIS web portal accessible as a commercial service to; farmers, agronomists, government and other agri-food stakeholders.

Crystallisation is the most important means of purifying high value chemical products and then delivering them into forms that can be efficiently formulated. Crystal Growth Modifiers (CGM), are molecular analogues of the active ingredient co-generated in synthesis or additives incorporated into the formulation that strongly influence the crystal formation process. In-process CGM have a profound often detrimental influence on process throughput, yield and robusntness of formulations requiring strategies for their removal or moderating their effect. In contrast, control of molecular assembly using CGMs will lead to integration of manufacturing from synthesis to formulation. Rational design of novel CGM as formulation additives can enhance product performance in application and reduce development time. This project is now delivering new capability for the discovery and characterisation of molecules able to modify the crystal growth of important industrial compounds. The methodology generates face specific crystallographic, particle size and shape information. Novel 3D Crystal Stereo imaging hardware and software developed at the Institute for Process Research and Development at Leeds University has been coupled with the commercial high throughput Crystalline platform provided by Avantium. For the first time, rapid discovery of potent modifiers including early quantification of their impact on process and product performance can be made. A pre-commercial unit has been constructed and is currently being evaluated by the consortium members including Syngenta, Pfizer and Astrazeneca. It is anticipated to launch a commercialised unit in 2013. It is anticipated that the quantitive crystallisation data generated on this equipment will be used in development of modelling technques and informatics for prediction and rationalisation of crystal growth modification through the Synthonic Engineering industrial consortium project led from Leeds.

Weed control is becoming increasingly difficult due to herbicide resistant weeds and restriction of herbicides due to higher regulatory demands. In cereals, herbicide resistant blackgrass is a severe problem with no good solution and weed control in minor crops, such as vegetables, is now extremely problematic as older herbicides have been de-registered. There is an urgent need to examine alternative forms of weed control to allow growers to grow crops profitably. A consortium consisting of Syngenta, Harper Adams University, the University of Manchester and G's Fresh has been assembled to undertake a project that will deliver a system which will address these issues. The planned system integrates sensors for real-time crop and weed detection, with targeted micro-droplet application of non-selective herbicides or use of low-power lasers, to create a new and sustainable weed eradication technique. The technology platform will be applicable to all weeds in all crop types and will provide a step change in weed control for UK growers and a large export opportunity.