Catching the learning curve

Animal and plant disease has been much on my mind recently, as Relu's projects on this theme come to fruition. I have been working on policy and practice notes from the research and on our briefing paper "Growing Concerns: animal and plant disease policy for the 21st century" which draws heavily, not just on the impressive work being carried out by research teams in the programme, but also on the stakeholder workshop we ran in London on 10 May this year. This does give the document a relevance and "real world" feel that I think it might otherwise lack. We owe much to people who are willing to spend valuable time enhancing the research in this way - and who are prepared to be quoted, as many have been in this briefing paper. Putting the publication together has been a great learning process for me, on a topic about which I knew nothing. But that has been the story of my involvement with the programme.

All hands to the plough

I have just returned from a brilliant holiday in Romania, visiting cultural sites. The mediaeval painted churches are particularly dazzling. But we drove through the countryside I was also struck by the amount of subsistence farming. There were strip field systems that looked as mediaeval as the churches, and people working them with horse-drawn ploughs. One or two cows would be tethered by the roadside and presumably they were milked by hand. My companions on the trip were very taken by the idea of the organic produce on offer at the roadside stalls. It's true that the plums, apples and watermelons were delicious, and it was heartening to see families working together in the fields. But I couldn't help wondering whether such a labour-intensive approach can continue now that Romania is part of the European community. Not many people in the UK would want to work so hard to produce food.

Beautiful and useful

I spent a lovely couple of days in the North York Moors for my birthday last month (21 and a bit since you ask). We didn't even get rained on much. It's an untamed and beautiful landscape and I hadn't really given much thought to the benefits that we get from it - beyond the obvious aesthetic enjoyment. But of course, increasingly, we need more and more from our limited allocation of land in the UK and areas like the uplands provide us with some of the real essentials - not just food but water, carbon storage and renewable energy. Efficiency is everything, even for ecology. So how can we squeeze more from these landscapes? If farmers collaborated, that would help - scale is usually a factor in efficiency - but there is little tradition of this in the UK. Relu's latest policy and practice note for local government is a rallying cry to national parks to provide a lead and they are well-positioned to do so. Perhaps these beautiful, wild landscapes provide an example for us all. They will be providing a focus for discussion at the Relu/Northern Rural Network event on 14 September where the note will be launched.

Camera, Action!

Filming has now started for the Relu Awards films. Richard from Xube, the company producing the films has been keeping me updated on their progress and it all sounds very exciting. I am delighted that the finalists have found so many people willing to strut their stuff on camera - both researchers and stakeholders - and they have been braving the rain to keep up with the filming schedule. It sounds as though the films will do them justice and I'm looking forward to seeing the results. Richard has asked me whether I would like to go and see them at work and it's certainly tempting. Watching the professionals in action is fascinating. TV companies are always looking for locations and seem particularly keen on using hospitals so I had several opportunities to watch film crews in action during the time I spent in NHS communications. That included a couple of weeks when one production company was making making an episode of "Wire in the Blood" at the hospital where I was based. But I'm sure none of our researchers would play the big star in quite the same way as Robson Green. Fortunately.

Academic and communicator

Relu has lured many brilliant academics into its interdisciplinary fold but Gareth Edwards-Jones must count as being among the most memorable. He was keen to talk about his research and bring it to a wider audience and, for me, as communciations manager, that was a great bonus. He treated his performances lightly, and often referred to himself as "The Media Tart" but his ability to speak with authority and enthusiasm gave his research an added dimension. He made a difference to the world and we will all miss him.

Fighting alien algae

It's difficult to imagine how blue-green toxic algae "blooming" on a lovely lake like Loweswater can have a positive side - unless you are a science fiction writer looking for inspiration. It looks pretty sinister and it's certainly bad for the tourist industry that provides many residents with a livelihood. But adversity often bring human beings together in common endeavour, and that doesn't have to be about fighting off extra-terrestrials. Relu's Community Approach to Catchment Management project has put this tendency to good use. Concerns about the algae prompted the suggestion that farming in the catchment might be to blame and it was farmers themselves who took the initiative and got together to see what could be done. When scientists became involved they were able to bring an additional dimension to the work, but the residents themselves have continued to be equal partners in the group that has come to be known as "The Loweswater Care Project". They would not claim that the algae have been defeated yet - that looks like a much longer term ambition. But they have learned to work together to improve their local environment in a way that could prove to be an important model for future community environmental projects. And they have managed it without any help from Dr Who - or so they claim. Relu Policy and Practice Note no 32

Climate change in my backyard

A couple of years ago I noticed that my rosemary bush had become home to some strange, bronze-coloured beetles. I consulted the Royal Horticultural Society website and discovered that the Rosemary Beetle had reached Tyneside and was now residing in my backyard. The thrill of putting the most northerly dot on their distribution map was somewhat muted when I noted the damage being done to one of my favourite herbs. Reading the latest Relu policy and practice note I realise that this could be just the beginning, as new pests and diseases take advantage of climate change. The problem is that we can't easily predict which of these are going to become problematic. How can policymakers begin to plan? One dimension that is sometimes overlooked is that of human beings. Presumably my beetles didn't fly in from the continent and the nearest infestation on the map was much further south. So it seems likely that they arrived via the horticultural trade, or were brought north by an individual gardener. The last couple of Tyneside winters have seen them off - for the moment. But none of us, whether gardeners with tiny backyards, commercial growers or policymakers can afford to be complacent.