NBR is always open to student work. Our usual approach is to get students involved in ongoing projects. So, check them out. The following is a list of ideas that would suit a student project in terms of project size, and would somewhat stand alone.
| TITLE | DESCRIPTION |
| Temporary clamp insulation: lab tests | Testing out alternative materials as sugar beet clamp insultation. Current materials that are used as insulation is basically limited to just straw. The current list of alternatives is similarly short, but could be expanded prior to testing. This current list of alternatives is: foam frost protection used in vineyards. Lab testing would likely include a little bit of creative construction, re-purposing the equipment used in a previous study. |
| Is it worth resowing? | Developing a simple model that takes growth estimates for given sowing times and establishment rates, and runs a Bayesian MCMC analysis on the likely outcomes. |
| Soil biology x aggregate stability & penetration resistance | Heinz-Josef Koch (IfZ) presented the idea at IIRB2022 that these factors are very good predictors of in-field variation in yields – how do we incorporate this into precision ag, and how do we incorporate practices that promote these factors? |
| Developing wind speed measurement in sugar beet clamps | Measure airflow in a sugar beet clamp using one or numerous commercial wind speed monitor/s. |
| Clamps in the landscape | Cold air accumulates in low points in the landscape, meaning minimum temperatures can be very local: how will this affect sugar beet storage and can we map the places to avoid placing clamps? (collab: Kristina Blennow, SLU, Alnarp) |
| Yield gap – genetics | What is the “genetic” difference in sugar beet production potential between the two countries? Was the 1995-96 divergence between SE and DK driven by the acquisition of Hilleshög and Hilleshög genetics by Maribo beet seeds? |
| Yield gap – climate | What is the “natural” difference in sugar beet production potential between the two countries? Growth models, with just soil type, solar radiation, temperature, rainfall. Variety trials and differences observed in market varieties. |
| Yield gap – structural | What is the “structural” difference in sugar beet production potential between the two countries? Field size, farm size, demographics? |
| Yield gap – storage | What is the “storage” difference in sugar beet production potential between the two countries? Length and conditions during this period. |
| Yield gap – legal | What is the “legal” difference in sugar beet production potential between the two countries? Permitted use of fertilisers/ -cides/ etc. |