Sustainable Intensification Project

Sustainable Intensification - Three day Conference

28 Nov 2017 - 9:30am to 30 Nov 2017 - 5:30pm
Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK

Agriculture accounts for around 70% of the UK land area. It plays an essential role in the rural economy not only through the production of food and other agricultural outputs, but in the delivery of a wide range of additional ecosystem services and environmental outcomes. These include the provision of clean water, the regulation of air quality, flooding, climate and nutrient cycles, biodiversity, cultural, aesthetic and recreational value.

In addition, the global food supply system faces an unprecedented challenge to feed a growing global population and food security is firmly on the political agenda. UN projections of population growth indicate that the global food supply system will have to feed between 9 and ten billion people by 2050 and, furthermore, the world’s population is expected to continue growing during the second half of the century.

The challenge for the agricultural sector is therefore one of sustainable intensification. This means increasing food production while simultaneously reducing environmental impacts and enhancing the wide range of interlinked ecosystem services that society needs from land.

The UK Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has sought to address this challenge by investing £4 million of research through the Sustainable Intensification Research Platform (SIP) which is due to be concluded in November 2017. This conference will explore the outcomes of SIP and other relevant research. International contributions will be very welcome.

Topics covered by the conference will encompass:

• Management practices for sustainable intensification at farm and landscape scale

• Landscape typology: identifying opportunities and risks for agricultural land use

• Indicators and metrics for sustainable intensification

• Assessing and benchmarking the economic and environmental performance of farms

• Decision support for Integrated Farm Management

• Knowledge exchange and communication

• Collaboration and cooperation

• Supply chains and consumer demand

• What’s next for Sustainable Intensification?

Invited speakers will include:

Les Firbank (University of Leeds, UK)

Paul Wilson (University of Nottingham, UK)

Caroline Drummond (LEAF, Warwickshire, UK)

Stuart Knight (NIAB, UK)

Michael Winter (University of Exeter, UK)

 

More details can be found on the AAB SI conference website: please click here

To register: click here

For the full programme: click here

 

18 BASIS points have been awarded for this event.