Breeding Division and the Food and Beverage Division. This action by the ARC was a severe blow to the Research Station and began a long period of structural change. The Hirst Laboratory was built in 1983 as part of the reorganisation process, and work on arable crops substantially replaced Long Ashton's long history of work on fruit and cider. The Agricultural and Food Research Council (AFRC, previously ARC) closed other research sites including the Letcombe Laboratory (1985) and the Weed Research Organisation (1986) and their staff and programmes were moved to Long Ashton. With Rothamsted it became part of the Institute of Arable Crops Research (IACR) in 1986. Although the new Treharne Library and Fryer Laboratory were built in 1987, as a junior partner in IACR, Long Ashton was now vulnerable in the event of further restructuring. The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC, formed from the previous AFRC in 1994) announced in 1999 that Long Ashton was to be closed. The seventeenth and final Long Ashton International Symposium took place in 2002 and the Research Station was duly closed in 2003 having served agriculture and horticulture for exactly 100 years. Some of the remaining staff were moved to Rothamsted during Long Ashton's final years, providing some continuity with the programmes of work under way prior to closure. The site was sold and subsequently redeveloped for housing, employment space, community uses and playing fields. Nutrient solution The Long Ashton Nutrient Solution (LANS) was derived from nutrient solutions used at Long Ashton to grow fruit trees. It was first published in 1952 by Eric John Hewitt. The standardized LANS concentrations in ppm for almost all essential elements and sodium in a full solution of the nitrate-type are shown below: N 168 ppm K 156 ppm Ca 160 ppm P 41 ppm S 48 ppm Na 31 ppm Mg 36 ppm B 0.54 ppm Mn 0.55 ppm Zn 0.065 ppm Cu 0.064 ppm Mo 0.048 ppm Fe 5.6 ppm or 2.8 ppm In particular, the composition and concentration of the micronutrients (B, Mn, Zn, Cu, and Mo) is still commonly used in plant science today (cf. Table (1)). Micronutrients Table (1) to prepare the stock solutions of micronutrients and a full micronutrient solution of LANS Micronutrient salts such as MnSO4•4H2O can be substituted with an equivalent amount of MnCl2•4H2O because chloride is one of the elements essential for plant growth (cf.