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Rothamsted Research

February 16, 2024

Rothamsted Research, previously known as the Rothamsted Experimental Station and then the Institute of Arable Crops Research, is one of the oldest agricultural research institutions in the world, having been founded in 1843. It is located at Harpenden in the English county of Hertfordshire and is a registered charity under English law.[1]

Panorama of Rothamsted Research

One of the station's best known and longest-running experiments is the Park Grass Experiment, a biological study that started in 1856 and has been continuously monitored ever since.[2]

51°48′33″N 0°21′19″W / 51.80917°N 0.35528°W / 51.80917; -0.35528

History edit

 
John Bennet Lawes
 
The Centenary building at Rothamsted Research, finished in 2003

The Rothamsted Experimental Station was founded in 1843 by John Bennet Lawes, a noted Victorian era entrepreneur and scientist who had founded one of the first artificial fertilizer manufacturing factories in 1842, on his 16th-century estate, Rothamsted Manor, to investigate the impact of inorganic and organic fertilizers on crop yield.

 
Joseph Henry Gilbert

Lawes had Henry King conduct studies on the application of bone dust to turnip fields between 1836 and 1838. In 1840 he hired Dobson,[who?] a chemist. He had experiments conducted with bone ash treated with sulphuric acid and various other mixtures. It is thought that the experiments were at least to some extent influenced by Justus von Liebig who had attended a meeting of the British Association at Liverpool in 1837. Lawes took out patents on manure mixtures and began a factory to manufacture them in 1843, the same year that Joseph Henry Gilbert replaced Dobson who had moved to Australia. Gilbert had trained under Liebig and with Lawes's support, he launched the first of a series of long-term field experiments, some of which still continue.[3] Over 57 years, Lawes and Gilbert established the foundations of modern scientific agriculture and the principles of crop nutrition.

 
A plaque commemorating 50 years of research, in front of the Russell Building

In 1902 Daniel Hall moved from Wye College to become director, taking a lower salary to join an establishment lacking money, staff, and direction. Hall decided that Rothamsted needed to specialise and was eventually successful in obtaining state support for agricultural research. In 1912 E. John Russell, who had come from Wye in 1907, took over as director until 1943, overseeing a major expansion in the 1920s, when Sir William Gammie Ogg took over until 1958 and increasing the number of staff from 140 to 471 and creating new biochemistry, nematology, and pedology departments. The site in Harpenden grew to cover 330 hectares (820 acres).[4]

Statistical science edit

Many distinguished scientists have been associated with Rothamsted. In 1919 Russell hired Ronald Fisher to investigate the possibility of analysing the vast amount of data accumulated from the "Classical Field Experiments." Fisher analysed the data and stayed to create the theory of experimental design, making Rothamsted a major centre for research in statistics and genetics. Among his appointments and successors in the Statistics department were Oscar Irwin, John Wishart, Frank Yates, William Cochran, Winifred Mackenzie and John Nelder. Indeed, many[who?] consider Rothamsted to be the most important birthplace of modern statistical theory and practice.


Partly through these methods, researchers at Rothamsted have made significant contributions to agricultural science, including the discovery and development of systemic herbicides and pyrethroid insecticides, as well as pioneering contributions to the fields of virology, nematology, soil science and pesticide resistance. During World War II, aiming to increase crop yields for a nation at war, a team under the leadership of Judah Hirsch Quastel developed 2,4-D, still the most widely used weed killer in the world.

Recent history edit

In 1987, Rothamsted, the Long Ashton Research Station, and Broom's Barn Experimental Station merged to form the Institute of Arable Crops Research (IACR). The Long Ashton Research Station was closed in 2002, with some of its staff moved to Rothamsted, whilst Broom's Barn is operated as an experimental farm for Rothamsted.

Rothamsted is now operated by a grouping of private organizations under the name of Rothamsted Research and is mainly funded by various branches of the UK government through the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Rothamsted Research supports around 350 scientists (including 50 visiting scientists), 150 administrative staff and 60 PhD students.[5]

As well as the Rothamsted site Rothamsted Research operates:[5]

  • Broom's Barn, a 120-hectare (300-acre) experimental farm near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, which is the UK's national centre for sugar beet research.
  • North Wyke, 250 hectares (620 acres) of grassland near Okehampton, Devon. It provides a "Farm Platform" allowing research teams to conduct experiments on three 25-hectare (62-acre) mini-farms. It was formerly part of the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research.

Its research program has four main areas:[6]

  • 20:20 Wheat: increasing wheat productivity to yield 20 (metric) tonnes per hectare in 20 years from the current nine tonnes per hectare in 2012.[7]
  • Cropping carbon: optimising carbon capture by grasslands and perennial energy crops, such as willow.
  • Designing seeds: improved health and nutrition through seeds.
  • Delivering sustainable systems: investigating sustainable agricultural systems to increase productivity while minimising environmental impact.

It also operates:

  • The Insect Survey: two national networks for monitoring insect populations in the UK.[8]
  • PHI-base: a database of multiple pathogen-host interactions.[9]

GM protest edit

In 2012 Rothamsted started testing genetically modified wheat which had been modified to produce an aphid alarm pheromone produced by aphids when under attack to help deter pests.[10] This trial attracted criticism from anti-GM groups and "about 200" people attempted to occupy the site on 27 May 2012.[11] They were prevented by a large police presence and the protest ended peacefully.[12] However one protester did trespass and damage the crop. The protester was later arrested, tried and fined £4,000.[13]

A video appeal by scientists at Rothamsted led to over 6,000 people signing a "Don't destroy research" petition organised by Sense about Science.[14] Sense about Science also organised a question and answer session with scientists.[15] The author Mark Lynas commented that Rothamsted's successful campaign may be a turning point for GMOs.[16]

The results published in 2015 showed that the trial wheat variety was no better than standard wheat varieties in deterring pests.[17]

People associated with Rothamsted edit

Directors edit

Source:[18]

Entomologists edit

Environmental meteorologists edit

Botanists edit

Chemists and biochemists edit

Some of the chemists associated with Rothamsted can be found by searching Rothamsted on the Biographical Database of the British Chemical Community, 1880-1970.[23]

Statisticians edit

Geologists and soil scientists edit

Librarians edit

  • Donald H. Boalch (1950-1962)

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "ROTHAMSTED RESEARCH LIMITED, registered charity no. 802038". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
  2. ^ Silvertown, J.; Poulton, P.; Johnston, E.; Edwards, G.; Heard, M.; Biss, P. M. (2006). "The Park Grass Experiment 1856-2006: Its contribution to ecology". Journal of Ecology. 94 (4): 801. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.589.7794. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2745.2006.01145.x. S2CID 23198088.
  3. ^ Russeli, E. John (1942). "Rothamsted and Its Experiment Station". Agricultural History. 16 (4): 161–183. ISSN 0002-1482. JSTOR 3739533.
  4. ^ "The History of Rothamsted Research". Rothamsted Research. Retrieved 2021-02-21.
  5. ^ a b . Rothamsted Research. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  6. ^ . Rothamsted Research. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  7. ^ Ruitenberg, Rudy (2012-06-15). "U.K. Researchers Start Plan to Double Wheat Yields in 20 Years". Bloomberg Business. USA. Retrieved 2015-07-09.
  8. ^ Harrington, Richard and Woiwod, Ian (February 2007) Foresight from hindsight: The Rothamsted Insect Survey Outlooks on Pest Management, Volume 18, Number 1, Retrieved 22 May 2012
  9. ^ Winnenburg, R.; Urban, M.; Beacham, A.; Baldwin, T. K.; Holland, S.; Lindeberg, M.; Hansen, H.; Rawlings, C.; Hammond-Kosack, K. E.; Köhler, J. (2007). "PHI-base update: Additions to the pathogen-host interaction database". Nucleic Acids Research. 36 (Database issue): D572–D576. doi:10.1093/nar/gkm858. PMC 2238852. PMID 17942425.
  10. ^ Ian Sample (27 May 2012). "The GM scientists' risky strategy that won public support". The Guardian.
  11. ^ David Shukman (27 May 2012). "GM trial survives - but 'war' goes on". BBC News.
  12. ^ Shiv Malik (27 May 2012). "Anti-GM protesters kept from tearing up wheat crop by police". The Guardian.
  13. ^ (19 July 2014) GM Crop Damage Fine ITV News, Retrieved 9 July 20915
  14. ^ . Sense about Science. Archived from the original on 14 August 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  15. ^ . Sense about Science. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  16. ^ Lynas, M. (2012). "Rothamsted's aphid-resistant wheat - a turning point for GMOs?". Agriculture & Food Security. 1: 17. doi:10.1186/2048-7010-1-17.
  17. ^ Case, Philip (27 June 2015). "9 questions about the GM wheat trial answered". Farmers Weekly. Surrey, UK. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  18. ^ (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-11-05. Retrieved 2016-11-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. ^ Russell, E. J. (1942). "Alfred Daniel Hall. 1864-1942". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society. 4 (11): 228–250. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1942.0018. S2CID 161964820.
  20. ^ Thornton, H. G. (1966). "Edward John Russell. 1872-1965". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 12: 456–477. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1966.0022.
  21. ^ "News".
  22. ^ "Angela Karp announced as new Director and CEO of Rothamsted Research". Rothamsted Research. Retrieved 2020-10-29.
  23. ^ . The Open University. Archived from the original on 2012-02-04. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  24. ^ Simons, Paul (2019-05-18). "Decline of 'nature's ploughs', the earthworm". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2019-08-02.
  25. ^ Malvern, Jack (2019-02-23). "Modern farming is wiping out worms". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2019-08-02.
  26. ^ Brown, Paul (2019-02-26). "Specieswatch: farmers fight to save Britain's disappearing earthworms". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-08-02.
  27. ^ "Dearth of worms blamed for dramatic decline in UK songbird population". The Independent. 2019-02-24. Retrieved 2019-08-02.
  28. ^ Howard, Jules (2019-05-20). "It's not just about the bees – earthworms need love, too". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-08-02.

Further reading edit

  • A History of Agricultural Science in Great Britain 1620-1954, by E. J. Russell (1966) London, George Allen & Unwin. Sir John Russell was a director of Rothamsted and his book emphasises the role of Rothamsted in the development of agricultural science in Britain.

External links edit

 
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Scientific Farming at Rothamsted
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rothamsted Research.
  • Rothamsted Research
  • Lawes Agricultural Trust
  • Rothamsted History
  • Rothamsted Manor
  • The electronic Rothamsted Documents Archive: digital collection of annual reports, guides, maps and documents relating to the various long-term experiments at Rothamsted
  • Rothamsted Repository - research publications of the Institute back to 1843

February 16, 2024
rothamsted, research, previously, known, rothamsted, experimental, station, then, institute, arable, crops, research, oldest, agricultural, research, institutions, world, having, been, founded, 1843, located, harpenden, english, county, hertfordshire, register. Rothamsted Research previously known as the Rothamsted Experimental Station and then the Institute of Arable Crops Research is one of the oldest agricultural research institutions in the world having been founded in 1843 It is located at Harpenden in the English county of Hertfordshire and is a registered charity under English law 1 Panorama of Rothamsted ResearchOne of the station s best known and longest running experiments is the Park Grass Experiment a biological study that started in 1856 and has been continuously monitored ever since 2 51 48 33 N 0 21 19 W 51 80917 N 0 35528 W 51 80917 0 35528 Contents 1 History 1 1 Statistical science 1 2 Recent history 2 GM protest 3 People associated with Rothamsted 3 1 Directors 3 2 Entomologists 3 3 Environmental meteorologists 3 4 Botanists 3 5 Chemists and biochemists 3 6 Statisticians 3 7 Geologists and soil scientists 3 8 Librarians 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External linksHistory edit nbsp John Bennet Lawes nbsp The Centenary building at Rothamsted Research finished in 2003The Rothamsted Experimental Station was founded in 1843 by John Bennet Lawes a noted Victorian era entrepreneur and scientist who had founded one of the first artificial fertilizer manufacturing factories in 1842 on his 16th century estate Rothamsted Manor to investigate the impact of inorganic and organic fertilizers on crop yield nbsp Joseph Henry GilbertLawes had Henry King conduct studies on the application of bone dust to turnip fields between 1836 and 1838 In 1840 he hired Dobson who a chemist He had experiments conducted with bone ash treated with sulphuric acid and various other mixtures It is thought that the experiments were at least to some extent influenced by Justus von Liebig who had attended a meeting of the British Association at Liverpool in 1837 Lawes took out patents on manure mixtures and began a factory to manufacture them in 1843 the same year that Joseph Henry Gilbert replaced Dobson who had moved to Australia Gilbert had trained under Liebig and with Lawes s support he launched the first of a series of long term field experiments some of which still continue 3 Over 57 years Lawes and Gilbert established the foundations of modern scientific agriculture and the principles of crop nutrition nbsp A plaque commemorating 50 years of research in front of the Russell BuildingIn 1902 Daniel Hall moved from Wye College to become director taking a lower salary to join an establishment lacking money staff and direction Hall decided that Rothamsted needed to specialise and was eventually successful in obtaining state support for agricultural research In 1912 E John Russell who had come from Wye in 1907 took over as director until 1943 overseeing a major expansion in the 1920s when Sir William Gammie Ogg took over until 1958 and increasing the number of staff from 140 to 471 and creating new biochemistry nematology and pedology departments The site in Harpenden grew to cover 330 hectares 820 acres 4 Statistical science edit Many distinguished scientists have been associated with Rothamsted In 1919 Russell hired Ronald Fisher to investigate the possibility of analysing the vast amount of data accumulated from the Classical Field Experiments Fisher analysed the data and stayed to create the theory of experimental design making Rothamsted a major centre for research in statistics and genetics Among his appointments and successors in the Statistics department were Oscar Irwin John Wishart Frank Yates William Cochran Winifred Mackenzie and John Nelder Indeed many who consider Rothamsted to be the most important birthplace of modern statistical theory and practice Partly through these methods researchers at Rothamsted have made significant contributions to agricultural science including the discovery and development of systemic herbicides and pyrethroid insecticides as well as pioneering contributions to the fields of virology nematology soil science and pesticide resistance During World War II aiming to increase crop yields for a nation at war a team under the leadership of Judah Hirsch Quastel developed 2 4 D still the most widely used weed killer in the world Recent history edit In 1987 Rothamsted the Long Ashton Research Station and Broom s Barn Experimental Station merged to form the Institute of Arable Crops Research IACR The Long Ashton Research Station was closed in 2002 with some of its staff moved to Rothamsted whilst Broom s Barn is operated as an experimental farm for Rothamsted Rothamsted is now operated by a grouping of private organizations under the name of Rothamsted Research and is mainly funded by various branches of the UK government through the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs Defra Rothamsted Research supports around 350 scientists including 50 visiting scientists 150 administrative staff and 60 PhD students 5 As well as the Rothamsted site Rothamsted Research operates 5 Broom s Barn a 120 hectare 300 acre experimental farm near Bury St Edmunds Suffolk which is the UK s national centre for sugar beet research North Wyke 250 hectares 620 acres of grassland near Okehampton Devon It provides a Farm Platform allowing research teams to conduct experiments on three 25 hectare 62 acre mini farms It was formerly part of the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research Its research program has four main areas 6 20 20 Wheat increasing wheat productivity to yield 20 metric tonnes per hectare in 20 years from the current nine tonnes per hectare in 2012 7 Cropping carbon optimising carbon capture by grasslands and perennial energy crops such as willow Designing seeds improved health and nutrition through seeds Delivering sustainable systems investigating sustainable agricultural systems to increase productivity while minimising environmental impact It also operates The Insect Survey two national networks for monitoring insect populations in the UK 8 PHI base a database of multiple pathogen host interactions 9 GM protest editIn 2012 Rothamsted started testing genetically modified wheat which had been modified to produce an aphid alarm pheromone produced by aphids when under attack to help deter pests 10 This trial attracted criticism from anti GM groups and about 200 people attempted to occupy the site on 27 May 2012 11 They were prevented by a large police presence and the protest ended peacefully 12 However one protester did trespass and damage the crop The protester was later arrested tried and fined 4 000 13 A video appeal by scientists at Rothamsted led to over 6 000 people signing a Don t destroy research petition organised by Sense about Science 14 Sense about Science also organised a question and answer session with scientists 15 The author Mark Lynas commented that Rothamsted s successful campaign may be a turning point for GMOs 16 The results published in 2015 showed that the trial wheat variety was no better than standard wheat varieties in deterring pests 17 People associated with Rothamsted editDirectors edit Source 18 John Bennet Lawes 1843 1900 Alfred Daniel Hall 19 1902 1912 E John Russell 20 1912 1943 William Gammie Ogg 1943 1958 Frederick Charles Bawden 1958 1972 Leslie Fowden 1973 1988 Kenneth Treharne 1988 1989 Trevor Lewis 1989 1993 Benjamin J Miflin 1994 1998 Ian R Crute 1999 2009 Maurice Moloney 2010 2013 Achim Dobermann 2014 2019 21 Angela Karp 2020 Present 22 Entomologists edit Horace Francis Barnes Colin Butler Augustus Daniel Imms Carrington Bonsor Williams Kenneth Mellanby Linda M FieldEnvironmental meteorologists edit John Monteith Howard PenmanBotanists edit Winifred Brenchley Mary Dilys Glynne plant pathologist Frances Sheffield Katherine WaringtonChemists and biochemists edit George W Cooke Edward Mortimer Crowther Michael Elliott Joseph Henry Gilbert Juda Hirsch Quastel Norman Pirie John A Pickett Robert WaringtonSome of the chemists associated with Rothamsted can be found by searching Rothamsted on the Biographical Database of the British Chemical Community 1880 1970 23 Statisticians edit Frank Anscombe William Cochran Ronald Fisher statistician evolutionary biologist eugenicist and geneticist Michael Healy Oscar Irwin John Nelder John Wishart Robert Wedderburn Frank YatesGeologists and soil scientists edit John Catt Jackie Stroud 24 25 26 27 28 Librarians edit Donald H Boalch 1950 1962 See also editLong term experiment Genstat a statistical package originally developed at Rothamsted Research which is reflected in its capacity to handle complex block designs of the type likely to occur in agricultural multi treatment experiments References edit ROTHAMSTED RESEARCH LIMITED registered charity no 802038 Charity Commission for England and Wales Silvertown J Poulton P Johnston E Edwards G Heard M Biss P M 2006 The Park Grass Experiment 1856 2006 Its contribution to ecology Journal of Ecology 94 4 801 CiteSeerX 10 1 1 589 7794 doi 10 1111 j 1365 2745 2006 01145 x S2CID 23198088 Russeli E John 1942 Rothamsted and Its Experiment Station Agricultural History 16 4 161 183 ISSN 0002 1482 JSTOR 3739533 The History of Rothamsted Research Rothamsted Research Retrieved 2021 02 21 a b About Us Rothamsted Research Archived from the original on 6 March 2012 Retrieved 4 April 2012 Introduction to the Research Strategy at Rothamsted Rothamsted Research Archived from the original on 6 March 2012 Retrieved 4 April 2012 Ruitenberg Rudy 2012 06 15 U K Researchers Start Plan to Double Wheat Yields in 20 Years Bloomberg Business USA Retrieved 2015 07 09 Harrington Richard and Woiwod Ian February 2007 Foresight from hindsight The Rothamsted Insect Survey Outlooks on Pest Management Volume 18 Number 1 Retrieved 22 May 2012 Winnenburg R Urban M Beacham A Baldwin T K Holland S Lindeberg M Hansen H Rawlings C Hammond Kosack K E Kohler J 2007 PHI base update Additions to the pathogen host interaction database Nucleic Acids Research 36 Database issue D572 D576 doi 10 1093 nar gkm858 PMC 2238852 PMID 17942425 Ian Sample 27 May 2012 The GM scientists risky strategy that won public support The Guardian David Shukman 27 May 2012 GM trial survives but war goes on BBC News Shiv Malik 27 May 2012 Anti GM protesters kept from tearing up wheat crop by police The Guardian 19 July 2014 GM Crop Damage Fine ITV News Retrieved 9 July 20915 Don t Destroy Research Campaign Sense about Science Archived from the original on 14 August 2012 Retrieved 29 August 2012 Sense about Science Q amp A Sense about Science Archived from the original on 18 October 2012 Retrieved 29 August 2012 Lynas M 2012 Rothamsted s aphid resistant wheat a turning point for GMOs Agriculture amp Food Security 1 17 doi 10 1186 2048 7010 1 17 Case Philip 27 June 2015 9 questions about the GM wheat trial answered Farmers Weekly Surrey UK Retrieved 9 July 2015 Archived copy PDF Archived from the original PDF on 2012 11 05 Retrieved 2016 11 25 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link Russell E J 1942 Alfred Daniel Hall 1864 1942 Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 4 11 228 250 doi 10 1098 rsbm 1942 0018 S2CID 161964820 Thornton H G 1966 Edward John Russell 1872 1965 Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 12 456 477 doi 10 1098 rsbm 1966 0022 News Angela Karp announced as new Director and CEO of Rothamsted Research Rothamsted Research Retrieved 2020 10 29 Biographical Database of the British Chemical Community 1880 1970 The Open University Archived from the original on 2012 02 04 Retrieved 29 August 2012 Simons Paul 2019 05 18 Decline of nature s ploughs the earthworm The Times ISSN 0140 0460 Retrieved 2019 08 02 Malvern Jack 2019 02 23 Modern farming is wiping out worms The Times ISSN 0140 0460 Retrieved 2019 08 02 Brown Paul 2019 02 26 Specieswatch farmers fight to save Britain s disappearing earthworms The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 2019 08 02 Dearth of worms blamed for dramatic decline in UK songbird population The Independent 2019 02 24 Retrieved 2019 08 02 Howard Jules 2019 05 20 It s not just about the bees earthworms need love too The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 2019 08 02 Further reading editA History of Agricultural Science in Great Britain 1620 1954 by E J Russell 1966 London George Allen amp Unwin Sir John Russell was a director of Rothamsted and his book emphasises the role of Rothamsted in the development of agricultural science in Britain External links edit nbsp Wikisource has original text related to this article Scientific Farming at Rothamsted nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rothamsted Research Rothamsted Research Lawes Agricultural Trust Rothamsted History Rothamsted Manor The electronic Rothamsted Documents Archive digital collection of annual reports guides maps and documents relating to the various long term experiments at Rothamsted Rothamsted Repository research publications of the Institute back to 1843 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Rothamsted Research amp oldid 1205360942, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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