Scottish Crop Research Institute

The Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI) is an agricultural research centre based at Invergowrie, near Dundee, employing over 350 staff. It has an income in excess of £13m, the majority from public funding. However, its corporate backing is disclosed neither on its website nor to enquirers.

However, it does provide a list of publications which bear the mark of their sponsorship, these include:

A Functional Approach to Modelling Biodiversity — sponsored by Rothamsted Research and Syngenta whose board includes Martin Taylor Michael Pragnell of Zeneca Group plc, Rupert Gasser is currently President of Nestec SA and Executive Vice President of Nestlé SA, Peter Doyle Non- Executive Director of Oxford Molecular plc (1997-2000), Director of Zeneca Group plc (1993-1999), Director of ICI (1989-1993) and as Chairman of the Biotechnology and Bioscience Research Council (1989-2003), Pierre Landolt, currently Chairman of the Sandoz Family Foundation, Peter Thompson currently a Director of Sodexho Alliance SA. Previously he was President and Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo Beverages International (1996-2004) and Jürg Witmer who held various General Management Positions within Roche.

L-Ascorbic Acid Accumulation in Blackcurrant Fruit: Ribes nigrum L. which (in microscopic point size) aknowledges the support of GlaxoSmithKline

Comparison of tuber proteomes of potato (Solanum sp.) varieties was supported GMOCARE an EU-funded investigation into the safety of genetically-modified (GM) food crops.

The SCRI was among the consortium of 3 Research Contractors (Rothamsted Research is another) who undertook the UK Government's £3M+ three-year programme of GM Crop Farm-Scale Evaluations.

The SCRI's director is Professor John Hillman who succeeded the SCRI's Acting Director, Mike Wilson. Both Hillman and Wilson are staunch advocates of GM crops. They even co-authored an article defending GM crops for a book edited by the far right free marketeers Julian Morris and Roger Bate.

Under Wilson and Hillman's direction the SCRI's promotion of itself and its science to the media and the public has become synoymous with the promotion of GM crops. In this they were assisted until his retirement by the SCRI's chief information officer, Bill Macfarlane Smith, who is also part of the biotech-industry funded lobby group CropGen, and who is still a Fellow of SCRI.

In 2000 Hillman used the SCRI's annual report to attack organic farming. This was widely publicised thanks to MacFarlane Smith and an SCRI press release:Leading expert reopens GM food debate (Scottish Crop Research Institute, Feb 2000).

The SCRI is a member of the BioIndustry Association, whose tagline is 'Encouraging and Promoting the Biotechnology Sector of the UK Economy'. John Hillman was formerly on its Board of Directors.