Can we manipulate the microbial ecology of soil to improve crop production in urban farming?

With food security high on the agenda and the price of food increasing, there has been a rise in the number of community-led urban farming projects across the UK and globally. This interdisciplinary project will explore how crop rotation/diversity can alter below-ground microbial community composition/productivity and soil nutrient quality, and how these impact of the nutritional value and quantity of crop produced. This project will transcend both social and biological sciences through functioning urban farms, lab-based experimental set-ups, and next-generation sequencing methods to determine ways to optimise food production in the urban environment.