Developing soil health indicators to inform land management decisions, increase crop yield and quality and reduce waste.

Improving soil management is one solution to the yield plateau of recent years and to feeding a growing population. Healthy soils are more productive soils, but ‘soil health’ is difficult to define or measure. On-farm indicators of soil health are urgently required by farmers and growers to enable them to assess whether management decisions, e.g. application of organic amendments, are improving soil health. This PhD studentship will develop and trial a suite of on farm soil health indicators. You will establish and manage a commercial field trial with G’s in Cambridgeshire and make frequent visits to assess soil properties and crop performance. The resulting data, along with that obtained from expert opinion will be used to explore the concept of soil health using advanced statistical techniques during a placement at Rothamsted Research.

The project will make use of Bayesian inferential techniques that incorporate subjective (expert opinion) as well as objective information and would suit a candidate who already has these skills. However, the student will be given training in both Bayesian methodology as well as field experimentation if necessary.

The studentship offers extensive opportunities to engage with one of Europe’s leading family-owned fresh produce companies, growing and supplying a vast array of high quality crops to all the major UK retailer and many European retailers. The individual will thus derive a sound knowledge of agri-business and its particular pressures. Upon graduation the graduate would then be in an excellent position to develop into a future leader in the interface between agricultural practice and research.

This project is part of a BBSRC-funded Collaborative Training Partnership (CTP) between the Waitrose Partnership, their international food production and supply companies, Lancaster University, the University of Reading, the University of Warwick and Rothamsted Research. Between 2017 and 2023, the CTP will deliver 20 four-year studentships on the themes of sustainable crop production, sustainable soil and water and biodiversity and ecosystem services in agriculture.

Start date: October 2017.