Crops, soils and environmental science
Research activity relates mainly to the disciplines of soil science, plant science and ecology and spans a range of scales: pot – plot – farm – landscape. Strategic research embraces work on soil quality, rhizosphere function, plant-soil feedback, soil-carbon dynamics and nutrient cycling. Applied research addresses issues of climate change mitigation (notably work on biofuels), ecological (organic) farming systems, low-input crop systems, and agriculture-environment interactions. Much (but not all) of our work is linked to Nafferton Ecological Farming Group and the Centre for Renewable Energy from Land.
For plot to farm scale research we enjoy the use of two research farms: Cockle Park Farm (home to the Palace Leas long-term grassland experiment) and Nafferton Farm (home to a unique farm-scale comparison of organic vs conventional crop and dairy production systems).
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Dr Paul Bilsborrow
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Dr Philip Cain
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Dr Julia Cooper
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Dr Jeremy Robert Franks
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John Gowing
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Dr Peter Manning
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Dr Robert Payton
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Dr Robert Shiel
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Dr Elizabeth Stockdale
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Dr Stephen Wilcockson
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Dr Alan Younger
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Projects
Diversification of Grassland through the Manipulation of Plant-Soil Interactions and the Identification of Indicators of Restoration. DEFRA funded (Shiel)
N-TOOLBOX: Toolbox of cost-effective strategies for on-farm reductions in N losses to water. EU funded (Cooper)
Improving nutrient use efficiency in major European food, feed and biofuel crops to reduce negative environmental impacts of crop production. EU funded (Leifert, Cooper)
Better Organic Bread. Defra Link funded (Wilcockson, Leifert)
Water Harvesting Technologies Revisited: Potentials for Innovations, Improvements and Upscaling in Sub-Saharan Africa. EU funded (Gowing)