A new centre for excellence that hopes to identify new varieties and techniques to bolster barley growing in Scotland, opened recently.

The International Barley Hub field centre, at the James Hutton Institute, in Dundee, had its public airing last week. This state-of-the-art facility will research new barley varieties and techniques to increase yield, resilience and climate change credentials of the barley, which is Scotland's largest grain crop.

The £62m IBH has been funded through the Tay Cities Deal Partnership, with £20m from the UK Government and Professor Colin Campbell, chief executive at JHI confirmed that the facility would embrace gene editing technology that will be one of the tools used to breed new barley varieties.

These new varieties could potentially be banned from being grown in Scotland under the current Scottish Government genetic modification and genetic editing rules. He said: “Securing the resilience of barley is critical to the future of our global food and drink chains, particularly for our whisky industry.

"It is a proud moment to welcome Lord Offord, along with other special guests, to the opening of the International Barley Hub today, which marks another step in this hugely important development, not just for the institute but for the local area and Scotland itself”.

Barley is the most predominant crop grown in Scotland and supports 40,000 jobs north of the UK Border, largely down to its key role in the world-renowned Scottish whisky industry.

Demand for the crop has grown in recent years, fuelled by £2bn of investment in national distillery infrastructure, a growth in the craft beer sector and a global increase in whisky sales. However, research from the James Hutton Institute had found it was becoming increasingly difficult to meet this increased demand due to adverse weather conditions reducing barley yields, changes in pesticide availability and crop management challenges.

The IBH aimed to promote scientific discovery and innovation to tackle these issues, as well as piloting new technologies for crop management, such as precision agriculture sensors and drones.

It is hoped to deliver a £105m benefit to the UK over the next 30 years, nearly £60m of which will be in Scotland. It will also generate 1281 full-time jobs in Scotland, increasing to 1838 jobs in the UK after 10 years.

Opening the facility, UK Government minister for Scotland, Malcolm Offord, said: "The UK Government is proud to invest £20m in the International Barley Hub at the James Hutton Institute. The project will not only bring great benefits to our fantastic food and drink industry, it will also directly benefit our economy, creating jobs and helping us achieve long-term growth.

"The wonderful work that will be undertaken here at the IBH is testament to the vast research and development skills that we have in abundance here and how they can be used to boost prosperity for the good of the local area, for Scotland and for the whole of the UK.”

George Lawrie, farmer and chair of the IBH, commented: "The hub is a world-class, contemporary innovation hub driving research excellence and through my extensive agricultural and framing experience I see this development is an essential tool to support cereal growers, brewers, distillers, and new business in Tayside.

"It will also enhance the production of premium quality barley by focusing on the whole barley supply and value chain, delivering a step change in barley research capability with modern facilities, better equipment.”