Rothamsted Research

On Monday 30 June, myself and fellow Year 10s visited Rothamsted Research for an organised tour. Our tour started with a visit to their Sample Archive where we saw hundreds of thousands of soil and crop samples over the years. There were some samples older than 180 years, and interestingly the samples from the war years were stored in dry milk tins instead of the usual glass bottles. Rothamsted’s fieldwork includes a giant specialised insect vacuum cleaner which collects insect samples to look at different insect species and the populations of each. I found the visit engaging and thought some of the research and technology they have at Rothamsted is very innovative. I especially enjoyed learning about the different kinds of genetic modification they do on plants to maximise food production and meet every kind of need. Overall, I’d say it was a very fascinating visit and I learnt about a whole area of research I hardly knew existed, and I’m glad I went on the trip.

Celia Viudez-Calzada (Year 10)