In a major step for agricultural science, the University of Exeter has launched the Global Meteorological Simulator (GMS), a pioneering lab that recreates real-world weather conditions -including tropical storms, fog, wind, and rainfall- in highly controlled plant growth chambers. The £1.5 million project is the only one of its kind at a university worldwide.

This innovation will allow scientists to study how changing climate affects crops like wheat, maize, coffee, and bananas, focusing on plant-pathogen interactions, pesticide resistance, microbe survival, and pollinator behavior -particularly bees impacted by pollution and shifting temperatures.

The lab features four separate chambers, each simulating a different global environment. Researchers will examine how weather patterns interact with plant genetics, enabling the development of more resilient crops and improving the accuracy of disease outbreak predictions.

Professor Ivana Gudelj, one of the project leaders, emphasized that the facility bridges a critical gap in crop science: "Field trials are difficult to control and replicate. This simulator gives us the ability to run precise, reproducible experiments on how climate really impacts plant health."

As the world faces mounting threats from climate change and food insecurity, the GMS represents a vital step toward building sustainable, climate-smart agriculture for the future.