A 4-page factsheet that details the purpose and findings of two projects – VG09031 and VG07036. While the former project – Efficacy of SAR for disease control in rhubarb: a preliminary study – discusses how the techniques designed to give nature’s disease defence mechanisms a helping hand are now being applied to the vegetable industry, the latter – Developing guidelines for environmentally sustainable use of mineral fertilisers – investigates practical ways for growing leafy vegetable crops that minimise the leaching of fertiliser into the groundwater.