Crop Testing

We are world renowned for providing excellence in crop testing and diagnostic services offering the most comprehensive range of services throughout all sectors of the supply chain. Our leading expertise and outstanding facilities can help you understand and identify your agricultural challenges; helping you to deliver more economically and environmentally resilient farming solutions for the sustainable intensification of arable systems. Our crop testing includes:

• Potatoes and field vegetables
• Arable Crops
• Soft Fruit
• Seeds

Nematology Testing

Nematodes are microscopic pests responsible for billions of pounds of yield loss each year. Potatoes Cyst Nematodes (PCN) are considered the most damaging pest of potato crops in the UK with losses up to 35%. However, Plant-Parasitic Nematodes (PPNs) can be just as damaging as they can parasitize nearly every plant species, resulting in devastating adverse effects on the quality and yield of host crops.

Fera offers a unique free-living nematode analysis service that provides identification to species level as well as nematode identification and consultancy advice for any sector of agriculture or horticulture.

Soil Health

We are helping farmers and industry to understand how different soil properties influence the development and spread of pests and diseases. We help by developing more effective soil-management strategies to mitigate these risks.

We help to:

• Improve soil-management practices to combat crop pests and diseases
• Understand pesticide behaviour in different soil conditions
• Develop more effective control measures for different soil types
• Undertake tests for soil health, pathogens and diseases
• Indicator Species - Species are identified as natural indicators when their presence or abundance, within sites of a particular habitat or a conservation area are high
• Microbial Loads - Testing of microbial loads provides the ability to identify levels of micro-organisms within a sample

Insect Monitoring

Our team of world leading entomologists offer multidisciplinary expertise in terms of design and management of insect monitoring schemes. This ensures your crop management strategy is fit for purpose and is able to address any potential viruses within your crop, mitigating the potential economic risk to your harvest. We also use applied entomological research into virus transmission in glasshouse and field plots, together with research into the physiology and behaviour of disease vectors using laboratory behaviour tests and electro-penetration graphs (to measure feeding behaviour). With our service you can monitor and forecast the spread of pests, weeds and diseases in real time; combining chemical, and agronomic strategies for smarter crop protection.