Agri-Food

It is anticipated that the world will require the production of an additional 30% of primary foodstuffs by 2030. Present rates of crop yield improvement mean that the world would fall far short of that target.

Crop production already accounts for more water consumption than all other uses combined and relies heavily on the unsustainable use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. In a changing climate, water resources are likely to become more scarce, conflictingly, nitrogen fertilisers require greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuels for production and phosphorus resources may be approaching exhaustion. Furthermore, excessive resource use has a significant environmental impact (desertification, salinisation, eutrophication). A shortfall in food supply versus demand would also incentivise expansion of agriculture onto more sensitive land, including the further destruction of natural habitats.

We aim to facilitate the development of globally relevant and accessible food systems by 2030. The key challenge areas that we are working on include

increasing crop production and closing the yield gap whilst using fewer resources and with reduced environmental impacts
delivering sustainable landscapes to provide food and fibre
reducing food waste
facilitating food justice

Group Leader

Professor Martin Parry

Professor Emeritus, Professor in Plant Science for Food Security

Plant and Crop Science

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Projects

From soil to sale, our researchers are helping to develop globally relevant and accessible food systems. This includes research in the field and the laboratory, in urban and rural environments, and using techniques from the molecular, biochemical and plant physiological to those at the whole catchment and circular-economy scales. Considerable emphasis is placed on knowledge exchange with producers and stakeholders, as well as the training the next generations of food systems professionals and scientists.

Assessing the long-term impacts of plant activator compounds on disease resistance and crop productivity

Researchers: Mike Roberts, Gabriela Toledo-Ortiz, Cesar Ponce-Ponce de Leon (PhD researcher)

Funder: CONACyT (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Mexico) scholarship

PhD project to assess the biological activity of plant activator compounds of interest to the industry partner, Biorganix Mexicana, in terms of their efficacy against a range of target pest organisms, their mode of action, and also wider interactions between induced resistance responses and other aspects of plant biology.

Signals in the Soil: Detecting soil degradation and restoration through a novel coupled sensor and machine learning framework

Researchers: John Quinton, Mike James, Jess Davies (LEC) Rebecca Killick, Chris Nemeth, Mengyi Gong (Mathematical Sciences)

Funder: Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Working in partnership with University of Colorado, Boulder, this cross-disciplinary project focuses on detecting soil degradation and restoration through development and deployment of novel multi-functional soil sensing, machine learning approaches and telemetry systems.

Find out more: https://wp.lancs.ac.uk/sustainable-soils/signals-in-the-soil/

Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency for sustainable increases in crop yield (RIPE and RIPE2)

Researchers: Elizabete Carmo-Silva, Martin Parry, Douglas Orr

Funders: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.

Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) is a multi-institutional effort to increase the yield of staple food crops in developing countries by improving C3 photosynthesis through several combined steps and working pipelines. At Lancaster, we focus on the sub-objective entitled: Transplanting Rubiscos.

The first enzyme involved in carbon fixation is Rubisco. This enzyme is important, but also inefficient because it can bind with oxygen instead of carbon dioxide, resulting in wasted carbon and energy in photorespiration. A way to overcome the limitation of Rubisco in modern crops is to search for a Rubisco among natural plants that has a higher specificity for CO2, meaning that it is less likely to bind to oxygen. RIPE is searching a range of algae and wild plants for a better Rubisco with higher specificity and faster binding rates. These will then be engineered into crops to replace the current, less efficient enzyme.

Find out more: https://ripe.illinois.edu/

Tomatoes for Tomorrow

Researchers: Gabriela Toledo-Ortiz, Jacob Phelps

Tomatoes are one of the world’s largest horticultural crops, and a staple ingredient globally. While tomatoes are now found all over the world, Mexico is the global centre of their domestication: hundreds of ancestral varieties have been developed over >1300 years and across a range of climatic conditions. However, this tomato agrodiversity is threatened. A small number of commercial varieties now dominate markets, while traditional varieties are being rapidly lost and forgotten. Meanwhile, climate change is presenting new threats to tomato production.

'Tomatoes for Tomorrow' is a group of plant scientists, farmers, agronomists, conservationists, chefs and tomato enthusiasts in Mexico and the United Kingdom. We work to identify, characterise, protect and celebrate Mexico's unique tomato agrodiversity. We believe that their active conservation and use will prove critical to rural livelihoods and nutrition in the future. Moreover, Mexican tomatoes will contribute to the development of climate-tolerant varieties, while preserving Mexico’s cultural and culinary heritage for the world.

Find out more: https://www.tomatoes4tomorrow.com/

Rurban Revolution

Researchers: Jess Davies, Rachel Marshall, Florian Payen, Lingxuan Liu (LUMS)

Funder: Global Food Security Programme

A project focused on the transformative power of urban farming on the health, sustainability and resilience of our food system. We explore how edible green infrastructures in cities can help support healthy diets, healthier ecosystems and more resilient food supply chains.

Find out more: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lec/rurbanrevolution/

Soil-Value: Valuing and enhancing soil infrastructure to improve societal sustainability and resilience

Researchers: Jess Davies, Victoria Janes-Bassett, Dmitry Yumashev, Roisin O'Riordan (PhD researcher)

Funder: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

This 5-year EPSRC funded fellowship focused on understanding the delivery of soil food, water and carbon services across the UK, their resilience to climate change and future land use drivers, and how to enhance these services. Through this project we are helping inform the business case for investing in soils as a nature-based solution.

Cropbooster-P

Researchers: Martin Parry, Mariana Rufino, Steve Long, Jess Davies and Lingxuan Liu (LUMS)

Funder: European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme

This large international project brings together plant scientists, food system researchers and stakeholders to identify the priorities and opportunities for improving the sustainability, productivity and nutritional quality of our EU food system by improving crops. Work Package 1 'Research Toolbox', led by Lancaster University, aims to assess the current scientific and technical options available to improve crop plants, of course without compromising crop quality.

Find out more: https://www.cropbooster-p.eu/

RePhoKUs: Resilience Phosphorus UK

Researchers: Paul Withers, Shane Rothwell, Kirsty Forber

Funders: Global Food Security’s ‘Resilience of the UK Food System Programme’, Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (BBSRC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Scottish Government.

RePhoKUs (The Role of Phosphorus in the Resilience and Sustainability of the UK Food System) aims to re-focus phosphorus use in the UK food system in order to achieve sustainable phosphorus use and deliver valued ecosystem services such as clean water and biodiversity. The UK has no domestic source of phosphorus and is reliant on imports for fertilisers, feeds and foods. UK agriculture is therefore vulnerable to future global shortages of phosphorus and fluctuating import prices. Phosphorus leakage from land to water also causes widespread and costly pollution (worth £39.5 billion), which is likely to become worse as imports increase in line with higher demand for food and if inefficiencies are not addressed. This project will undertake the first ever phosphorus vulnerability assessment of the UK’s food system, bringing together experts in catchment science, adaptive capacity and food system vulnerability.

Find out more: http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/rephokus/

Waitrose Collaborative Training Partnership (CTP)

Partnership lead: Carly Stevens

Funder: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

Waitrose CTP's mission is to innovate to address global food security challenges, with a unifying purpose to train PhD students.

Funded by BBSRC, the Waitrose CTP is a unique consortium of suppliers, Waitrose and academia. The collaboration comprises of 4 institutes over the UK, Waitrose Agronomy Group and fresh produce suppliers. Lancaster University is the project lead. The institute partners are the University of Reading, the University of Warwick and Rothamsted Research plus contribution and involvement from the University of East Anglia.

Research in the Waitrose CTP is offered under three interrelated research themes: Sustainable Crop Production, Sustainable Soil and Water and Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services in Agriculture.

Find out more: http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/sustainable-agriculture/

N8 AgriFood: Working to ensure sustainable, resilient & healthy food supplies for all

Funder: UK Research and Innovation and Office for Students

N8 AgriFood is a unique research collaboration, combining expertise and multiple disciplines from the 8 research intensive universities in the North of England – Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York.

The programme takes a food systems approach to tackling the challenges facing food security.

Through effective collaboration across the sector with industry, government, small to medium businesses, non-governmental organisations and charities, the programme aims to generate new knowledge and in turn take action to address these complex challenges.

Food Futures: North Lancashire's Sustainable Food Network

Researchers: Rebecca Whittle, Rachel Marshall, Jess Davies

FoodFutures is North Lancashire’s award-winning Sustainable Food Network, working to build a collaborative community of practitioners, food citizens, policy makers and researchers that work on food matters in the local area. It is made up of representatives from the local farming community, local food businesses, the public sector, Lancaster City and County council, NGOs, community food groups and the local academic institutions.

Find out more: https://foodfutures.org.uk/

Newton Impact Scheme: Evaluating the impact of climate resilient cereal varieties on farmer livelihoods and community nutrition in Peru

Researcher: Ian Dodd

Funder: British Council

PhotoBoost

Researchers: Elizabete Carmo-Silva, Martin Parry, Steve Long

Funder: European Commission

LOCKED UP: The role of biotic and abiotic interactions in the stabilisation and persistence of SOC (soil organic carbon)

Researchers: Nick Ostle

Funder: Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)

Sun shines through the leaves of a tree over a muddy farm gateway between grazing fields

Research Highlights

Jim Beary, farm manager at Levens Farming Partnership with KTP Associate Dr Laura Giles and Phil Scott from Lake District Farmers

New film highlights sustainability collaboration between Lancaster University and Lake District farmers

A collaboration between Lancaster University and farms in the Lake District aims to help move farmers towards net-zero meat production.

Montage: in the centre Professor Kirk Semple smiles to the camera, between images of the inside and outside of Lancaster Environment Centre

New LEC Director – from soil microbiology to multidisciplinary collaborations that make a positive difference

Bringing people together across disciplines and continents and giving everyone a voice to support sustainable, resilient and equitable futures, is the ambition of the Lancaster Environment Centre’s new director.

Soil tillage equipment moves large amount of material down slope as it is pulled through the soil

Ploughing and tilling soil on slopes is jeopardising future farm yields

Ploughing and tilling on hilly slopes is causing farm soils to thin and threatens future crop yields, a new study published in Nature Food finds.

A tractor spreads fertiliser on an open field

Scientists call on governments to act on phosphorus

A new report offers solutions to the global phosphorus crisis that is threatening food and water security.

Composite of two photos: a man tends food plants in a small raised bed of soil in the Amazon (left) and a car drives through a flooded UK road passing a "road closed due to flooding" sign and a bus stop

Ranked 2nd in the UK for the real-world impact of environmental research

The research carried out by the Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC) makes a real difference to people’s lives, according to the results of the UK Government’s research excellence framework (REF).

A group of very happy people cheering surrounded by colourful Brazilian drums

Brazilian carnival comes to Lancaster

Lancarnaval - a Brazilian style carnival celebration – is being held in Lancaster this weekend, thanks to a group of Brazilians who came to Lancaster University to work or study.

Grab a pint, of science

People across Morecambe and Lancaster are invited to join Lancaster University scientists for a chat in the pub.

Reducing waste in the food system

Accounting for the environmental, health and social costs of food production could help cut the 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by waste in our food system, say the winners of the Global Food Security programme (GFS) Policy Lab competition.

Helping to breed better cowpea crops

Research shows a link between leaf width and plant size in cowpea, offering opportunities to accelerate breeding programmes for this key crop in Sub Saharan Africa.

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