Light Science Technologies Holdings plc announced that it is participating in a 36-month £1.74 million collaboration, funded by The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Transforming Food Production Challenge. LSTH will receive a grant of £209,506 over the 36-month programme. The project, Transformative Reduced Input Potatoes ("TRIP"), consortium includes a range of commercial potato growers across England - from Lincolnshire to Cornwall - and includes farms owned and managed by Dyson Farming Ltd. ("Dyson Farming").

It will test out a range of regenerative cultivation methods that could reduce the environmental damage caused by producing potatoes. As part of the collaboration the Company will add Nitrous Oxide sensing capabilities to its existing SensorGROW product and supply sensors to various growing sites, phased to be delivered in second quarter of 2024. Over the 36-month period TRIP will investigate new breeds of disease resistant potato, new nutrient treatments for use on leaves instead of soil, reduced tillage methods including use of mulches as a growing medium and new methods to monitor greenhouse gas emissions from farmers' fields.

Dyson Farming, The James Hutton Institute, Emerald Research, The Sarvari Research Trust and scientists from Bangor University's School of Environmental and Natural Science and Biocomposites Centre will all collaborate with LSTH on the project.