An international team of researchers, led by The James Hutton Institute, has unveiled a powerful new digital solution to one of the oldest challenges in crop research: the ‘pen and paper’ error
The James Hutton Institute is a world-leading research organisation focused on global food security, sustainable land and natural resource management, and the development of more productive and resilient crops.
In a new study published in BMC Bioinformatics, researchers at the institute introduce GridScore NEXT, a digital data collection platform designed to replace manual field clipboards with precise, mobile-based tracking.
As the global population grows and climate change increases pressure on food production, plant breeders are working to develop crops that can better withstand extreme weather, pests and disease. A key part of that work is phenotyping: the detailed process of measuring how different plant varieties perform under real-world field conditions, according to a press release.
Replacing Clipboards with Mobile-Based Tracking
Traditionally, phenotyping has often involved researchers walking through trial plots with pen and paper. While familiar, this approach can be slow and vulnerable to errors, including lost notes, illegible handwriting and inconsistent data entry. Such issues can undermine research datasets built over multiple seasons.
GridScore NEXT is designed to address these challenges by allowing researchers to capture complex field data quickly and accurately on mobile devices, including in remote locations without internet access. The platform includes features such as barcode scanning, NFC tagging, real-time data validation and data visualisation, helping ensure that field research data is standardised, reliable and ready for analysis.
Safeguarding the Integrity of Crop Research Data
“Accurate data is the foundation of all scientific discovery, but in the challenging environment of a field trial, it’s also the hardest thing to get right,” Sebastian Raubach, senior research software engineer at the Hutton, and lead author of the study said. “By moving beyond the clipboard, we aren’t just making life easier for researchers, we are safeguarding the integrity of the genetic information that underpins global food security. GridScore NEXT acts as a bridge between the physical field and the digital laboratory.”
By reducing the risk of human error, GridScore NEXT helps scientists identify plant varieties with stronger yields, improved disease resistance and greater resilience more quickly. This added efficiency is important for accelerating breeding cycles in key crops such as barley, potatoes and soft fruits.
The platform also helps level the playing field for researchers in resource-limited regions by making it easier to collect high-quality, standardised data that is compatible with large-scale international research databases.
From Internal Project to Global Research Tool
Originally developed during the COVID-19 lockdown as a small internal project, GridScore NEXT has since attracted international support. Funding has been provided by the Scottish Government’s Rural and Environmental Science and Analytical Services division and the Crop Trust’s Biodiversity for Opportunities, Livelihoods and Development (BOLD) project. Through BOLD, partners are collecting, managing and sharing crop trait data to support field trials and monitor results.
Today, GridScore NEXT serves a growing global community of crop researchers, from major breeding programmes to smaller biodiversity conservation initiatives in developing nations.
“The data generated through pre-breeding is both vast and highly valuable,” Dr. Benjamin Kilian, Senior Scientist at the Crop Trust and Co-ordinator of the BOLD project said. “To support crop adaptation to climate change, this data must be open and accessible in ways that enable meaningful exploration and use.”
GridScore NEXT is freely available and accessible worldwide. More information is available here.
