I’m fed up with talking about the weather, but I can console myself with the fact we have grabbed every opportunity so far and progress is not too bad.BCPC 2009: Scientists need to talk to farmers
THERE were calls at the BCPC Congress for scientists to carefully consider the reason for their research and the way they communicate their findings to farmers and advisers.
Leading weed research scientist Dr Stephen Moss, of Rothamsted Research, criticised what he described as a culture of ‘knowledge without application’ within the research community.
‘Knowledge without application is worthless. It’s the taking through of knowledge to application that is the real issue. It’s not happening the way it should.
“The balance, in my view, is hopelessly wrong, certainly in a lot of research institutions and universities in the UK, where the fundamental work is justified by having practical implications but the people that do it have no understanding of the real issues, they have no interest in many cases and critically no incentive to take that research through because they are being judged on the quality and impact factors of their papers. That has got to change.”
Keith Norman, technical director for farm management business Velcourt also told the conference there was a need to get the research balance right. “Defra spend a lot of money, BBSRC spend a lot of money on research. We need this to support a competitive industry, we need the balance right between basic, strategic and applied research and currently it tends to be a bit top heavy towards the basic and the strategic,” he said.
Mr Norman also suggested scientists needed to engage more with farmers and advisors to better understand the technical problems they faced. “I am pleased to see the new Technology Strategy Bureau is very much designed for this two-way flow,” he said.
Translating research into commercial practice needed improvement, Mr Norman added. “There are a lot of messages out there not getting through to the producers that need them,” he said.
Tom Hind, head of economics and international affairs at the NFU, said it was important growers were involved in looking at the type of research needed and the kind of science and technology that would be useful to them in the future.
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