A £2 million donation will help cultivate still more ground-breaking agricultural research into food and energy crops in Gloucestershire.

It is the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) which will be using the money from the John Oldacre Foundation to cultivate and develop the agricultural sciences through its PHD programme.

Research could include topics such as growing soybean as a profitable, low-carbon crop and is estimated to be worth an estimated two new PhDs per year - in perpetuity.

Two John Oldacre scholars at RAU are already supported by nearly £190,000 and are working on crop science projects that will be of long-term benefit to the UK's food security.

According to the university the donation will also help enhance links with the agricultural research community, including a collaboration with the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB).

Professor Joanna Price, vice-chancellor of the Royal Agricultural University, said: "We are proud to receive this transformational investment in our doctoral research.

"Investment in PhD students is critical for ensuring that we address future challenges facing agriculture and for the RAU to make an impact in areas like global food security, crop resilience and climate change."

Henry Shouler, chairman of trustees at the Gloucestershire-based John Oldacre Foundation, said: "After promoting research at the RAU for more than thirty years, we are delighted a programme has been agreed to secure the future for its PhD students and their projects in the name of John Oldacre, who was a longstanding supporter of this work."

Pedzisai Nemadziba, from Zimbabwe, one of the current PhDs, is developing strategies for the UK to successfully grow large-scale soybean crops, which have lower reliance on fertilisers and are becoming a growing part of our diet.

The majority of the UK's soya is currently imported and genetically modified.

Another student, Caitlin Willis is "investigating insecticide resistance in UK populations of oil seed rape pests", in this case in conjunction with the non-profit Rothamsted Research Institute.

These projects will be supervised by Dr Nicola Cannon and Dr Xianmin Chang.

Dr Cannon, Principal Lecturer in Agronomy, said: "Soya is now being incorporated into meat products including burgers and sausages to help reduce red meat consumption for environmental and dietary benefits.

"Growing soya in the UK would help improve consumer understanding of this crop whilst reducing food miles and hopefully in the near future be a profitable and viable crop for farmers."

RAU PhD student Pedzisai Nemadziba working on the RAU's soybean trial. Pic by Mikal Ludlow