The James Hutton Institute

August 04, 2025 Potatoes in Practice, one of the UK’s premier field-based potato events, takes place at Balruddery Farm on Thursday (7th August) and throughout the day Sky-Pin Drones will be demonstrating the XAG P100 Pro, a next-generation heavy-lift agricultural drone designed for precision spraying and spreading, ideally suited to potato production systems.

The plots at Potatoes in Practice serve a wide range of purposes, from showcasing the latest potato varieties to industry representatives to demonstrating innovative products and technologies. The SAC Consulting/SRUC team, uses our dedicated plot not just for display, but as a hands-on training and diagnostic hub. As potato consultants, the SAC (SRUC) Potatoes Team spends much of the season in the field or lab, diagnosing crop issues and supporting growers across Scotland and beyond.

“We’ve shown that carbon emissions from these landscapes increase from in response to, but that’s one half of the balance. The other half is how much is then taken up by plants as vegetation grows.

“A challenge in the Scottish seafood industry is a lack of data on what could be processed, which is why we’re keen for people to take the survey from right across the sector.

A Chamonixia caespitosa with its blue bruising. Photo by Caroline Hobart “We’re looking at a globally rare fungal species that exists only with non-native spruce trees that were introduced into a highly valuable native habitat.

“We are still very much understanding the spread and impact of PFAS on the environment. Testing a river as long as the Yangtze, the world’s third longest river, is quite a unique opportunity to widen our understanding" The first study of toxic “forever chemicals” along the full length of Asia’s longest river, the Yangtze, has found 13 different types of PFAS, nearly half of them coming from textile treatments and food packaging.

"Presented in partnership with the Macaulay Development Trust and The James Hutton Institute; the event aims to connect scientific evidence with civic society around critical issues affecting land and people" 45th TB Macaulay lecture: Professor Gretchen C.

“Our modelling has shown that more efficient use of fertilisers informed by regular soil testing to match applications to crop demand could almost halve the amount of nutrients being lost from land to water” Scientists have outlined the urgent actions needed to protect Scotland’s lochs from the impacts of climate change, estimating that harmful algal blooms cost the national economy at least £16.5 million a year.

“Scotland has a reputation for promoting innovative ideas generated by world leading academics into policy and practice. We have enviable water resources and water quality.

“What makes this project so exciting is that, while the equipment will measure carbon dioxide and methane exchange as well as the usual meteorological data, it is also the first tower on forested deep peat measuring landscape-scale methane exchange.