Agriculture, Food and Vet Sciences Research (UoA6)

We work to improve the productivity and health of crops and livestock. We achieve this through research into precision agriculture and the application of smart surveillance systems.

Our research into efficient management of natural capital provides improvements to sustainable production. It focuses on agricultural systems and enhanced ecosystem services. 

We investigate behaviours and interactions within agri-food systems. We know the important role evidence-based policy mechanisms play in enhancing food production. We focus on:

• sustainability
• resilience
• safety

We are founding partners (2016) of two national agritechnology centres. They are the Centre for Crop Health and Protection and the Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Livestock.

We are also founding partners of the N8 Universities £16 million Agrifood Resilience Catalyst award funded by Hefce/OfS (2015).

Our expertise in applied social sciences lies within the Centre for Rural Economy, our cross-faculty research centre. It includes one of the most significant groupings of rural social scientists in Europe. It won the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education.

Newcastle University Centres of Research Excellence (NUCoREs) facilitate university-wide interactions. The Healthier Lives and Climate & Environmental Resilience projects are most relevant to our researchers.

Agriculture, Food and Veterinary Sciences benefits from two research farms located in the Tyne Valley. They are Nafferton Farm and Cockle Park Farm, with additional land at Ousten.

We manage the farms as a single commercial unit and both operate as mixed farming enterprises. We manage a dairy herd (320 cows) operating at Nafferton and pig (140 sows plus finishers) and poultry units at Cockle Park. They provide us with a model set of facilities to conduct agricultural research with our partners.

Research in the Comparative Biology Centre focuses on the welfare of laboratory and companion animals. The knowledge exchange efforts of our researchers led to improvements in pain management of laboratory and companion animals.

Research with Noble Foods Ltd & DSM UK Ltd. has led to the development of ‘Sunshine Eggs’ enriched with vitamin D. This provides health benefits to consumers and the economy. 

Carrs-Billington developed Crystalyx as a supplement for ruminant diets using our research.

Working with LanXESS (Virkon products) has led to commercial alternatives to antibiotics. The aim is to reduce disease in chickens.

Herbicide resistance research has led to the commercialisation of in-field weed control diagnostics.

International field diagnostics work extends to virus disease problems in sub-Saharan Africa. The research also looks at herbicide resistance detection in Australia and Canada.

Research outcomes from studying ecosystem services within multifunctional landscapes have driven policy making.

One example is the design of the UK’s first ever and world-leading private-public Payment for Ecosystem Service scheme. This helps to restore damaged peatlands. Another example is the sustainable use of forests in Nepal.

This multidisciplinary research looks into agri-food system governance and safety. It focuses on co-production and knowledge exchange with stakeholders. The research looks at future economic performance of UK agriculture. This is done under a range of post-Brexit scenarios.

The outputs inform policymakers, including:

• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
• the Scottish Government
• the Welsh Assembly
• Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
• National Farmers Union
• Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board

They inform the design of future agricultural support mechanisms.

Newcastle researchers have changed practice and policy relating to the assessment and alleviation of pain in rabbits. There is an estimated ~4M laboratory, ~14M pet and ~180M farmed rabbits benefitting globally.

Newcastle researchers developed two novel and effective pain scoring systems. These have resulted in changes to national, academic, veterinary & industry policies. It also influenced change in individual researcher, clinician and farmer practice. These changes have produced clear benefits to the welfare of laboratory, pet and farmed rabbits. Communication and education from this research help to ease growing public concerns of animal welfare.

Research led by Newcastle University exploring the potential for vitamin D-enriched eggs has allowed Noble Foods Ltd, the largest UK producer of free-range eggs, to reformulate “the happy egg co.” brand of eggs to contain high vitamin D.

Since 2018, 752 million happy eggs have been sold. The brand's value increasing by >£24 million and making “the happy egg co.”. It is the leading free-range egg brand, bought by a third of UK households. The Innovate-funded collaboration also led to a successful commercial agreement between DSM and Noble Foods Ltd. This lead to increased sales of Hy-D® feed worth £1 million per annum to DSM.

Consumers also experience nutritional impacts, as eating two high vitamin D eggs a day provides 94% of the European Nutrient Reference Value of vitamin D.

Newcastle University research has advanced efforts in gender equality for those working in the Scottish agricultural sector.

Professor Sally Shortall’s research into gendering in the agricultural sector lead to the formation of a task force. Its recommendations changed Scottish governmental policy. It inspired £1.7M of investment in a range of programmes for farmers and agricultural organisations.

More than 1000 women have benefited from the increased availability of professional development activities in the Scottish agricultural sector. It included business practice and leadership training, and investment funding. Sixteen agricultural organisations have benefitted from more inclusive practices with regard to gender. This is the first scheme of its kind to be implemented by a developed country.

Damaged peatlands account for 5% of all global Greenhouse Gas emissions. This makes their restoration a key target for achieving net-zero emissions.

Newcastle University research contributed to the design and implementation of the UK’s first ever ecosystem market for peatland restoration, the Peatland Code. It generated >£300 million public and private investment in restoration to meet climate targets.

Research then extended to other ecosystems in the UK, Italy and Hungary. It leveraged a further £5M private investment in regenerative agriculture and conservation. This work also shaped the work of the United Nations’ Global Peatland Initiative to establish baseline evidence of peatland condition as a basis for global action. It was instrumental in securing international resolutions that led to the creation of new peatland policies in 29 countries.