Scotland’s James Hutton Institute has received a £3 million investment from Scottish Enterprise for its new high throughput phenotyping facility, part of the Advanced Plant Growth Centre (APGC), housed in its Crop Innovation Centre (CIC).
The new investment comes in addition to the £62 million invested through the Tay Cities Region Deal (TCRD) by the UK and Scottish Governments, which funded two new innovations centres, the APGC and the International Barley Hub (IBH), both created in partnership with the University of Dundee Plant Sciences Division.
The James Hutton Institute carries out world-leading scientific research in crops, soil and the environment.
A recent economic impact report on the James Hutton Institute by BiGGAR Economics said £61.8 million of Gross Value Added (GVA) was retained close to the Hutton’s two main campuses: £40 million in Dundee city region and £22 million in Aberdeen city region.
The report said the Hutton also supported 2,575 jobs in the year, of which 1,525 jobs were in Scotland and 740 jobs in the Aberdeen and Dundee city regions — 410 jobs in Dundee City Region and 330 jobs in Aberdeen City Region.
The report evaluated Hutton science in specific sectors and shows that in 2024, Hutton’s research was worth £221.3 million to the UK food and drink sector, supporting around 1,185 jobs in the industry.
“The facility allows researchers to assess the plants architecture and health using sensors and lasers to map the plant in detail and how this is then influenced by genetic make-up and changes in the environment,” said Scottish Enterprise.
“Together with automation and AI, the facility will accelerate crop innovation. By discovering new traits more quickly it will provide a faster route to market for plant breeders serving the agriculture, horticulture, pharmaceutical and food and drink sectors.”
The cutting-edge plant phenotyping platform is designed to create controlled climate conditions that crops will experience in the future.
It integrates automated plant handling, and irrigation and climate control, together with advanced imaging technologies to screen large populations of plants and select those best suited to the future climate conditions.
It will enable researchers to replicate current, and predicted, global crop production conditions, thus accelerating the breeding and growing of climate resilient and low input crops, enhancing the APGC’s research on the issues facing global food, non-food and pharmaceutical crops.
James Hutton Institute CEO Colin Campbell said: “This is a very welcome investment from Scottish Enterprise as this equipment is facilitating some of the most pioneering research into crop resilience being carried out anywhere in the world.
“In a recent economic impact report from BiGGAR into the Hutton, it was noted that for every £1 of funding received, we deliver £15 in economic value for the UK economy, of which £9 is retained in Scotland.
“It’s thanks to this type of investment that we continue to make the impact we do, using science to secure a more sustainable future, keeping food costs down, protecting livelihoods and making a positive contribution to our economy”.
Scottish Enterprise CEO Adrian Gillespie said: “The new phenotyping equipment, supported by Scottish Enterprise, builds on existing facilities at The James Hutton Institute including the International Barley Hub and the Advanced Plant Growth Centre.
“The cutting-edge facilities in Invergowrie combine innovative technology for the industrial biotechnology and agricultural sectors and will help create hundreds of new jobs, boost productivity and support scale-ups to benefit the Scottish economy.
“Our support will enable more businesses to use the facilities to translate world class research into commercial ventures with the potential to scale.”
Rob Hancock, Deputy Director of the Advanced Plant Growth Centre, said, “This new facility accelerates the identification of key traits for crop resilience, yield improvement and stress tolerance, climate change adaptation, sustainable agriculture and precision farming.
“By leveraging Hutton expertise in genetics, we will enhance industry collaboration to bring the new varieties needed to support agriculture more quickly. Moreover, the facility directly supports new developments in controlled environment agriculture (CEA) and vertical farming.”