Browsing by Author "Staley, Joanna T."

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    Barriers and enablers to uptake of agroecological and regenerative farming practices, and stakeholder views about ‘living labs’
    (DEFRA, 2023-02-20) Hurley, Paul D.; Rose, David Christian; Burgess, Paul J.; Staley, Joanna T.
    This report forms the second component of a Defra-sponsored research project entitled “Evaluating the productivity, environmental sustainability and wider impacts of agroecological compared to conventional farming systems”. The first component comprised a rapid evidence review of regenerative/agroecological farming systems. This second component describes and discusses the results of a survey to explore i) farmer and stakeholder definitions of agroecological and regenerative farming, ii) the barriers to the adoption of agroecological and regenerative farming, and iii) farmer and stakeholder views towards the concept of ‘living labs’ as a way to share research and learnings about agroecological/regenerative farming (Figure 1).
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    Characterising current agroecological and regenerative farming research capability and infrastructure, and examining the case for a Living Lab network
    (DEFRA, 2023-12-31) Staley, Joanna T.; McCracken, Morag E.; Redhead, John R.; Hurley, Paul D.; Rose, David Christian
    Agriculture is a major cause of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Agroecological and regenerative farming have been advocated as alternative approaches that may have fewer negative (or even net positive) environmental impacts than conventional agriculture at farm- and landscape-scales, leading to considerable interest in these approaches (Newton et al. 2020; Bohan et al. 2022; Prost et al. 2023). This report forms the third part of a Defra-funded project Evaluating the productivity, environmental sustainability and wider impacts of agroecological and regenerative farming systems compared to conventional systems. The first part of this project was a rapid evidence review of agroecological and regenerative farming systems and their impacts (Burgess et al. 2023), and the second reported interview findings to examine farmer and stakeholder perspectives on barriers and enablers in agroecological and regenerative farming (Hurley et al. 2023). This third part of the project characterised the current research capability in agroecology and regenerative farming, and explored the potential role of a new ‘living lab’ trial network.
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    Evaluating agroecological farming practices
    (DEFRA, 2023-02-20) Burgess, Paul J.; Redhead, John; Girkin, Nicholas T.; Deeks, Lynda K.; Harris, Jim A.; Staley, Joanna T.
    There are a range of definitions for agroecologically-related farming systems and practices. In brief, organic farming places strong restrictions on inputs, agroecological analyses often focus on principles, and regenerative farming typically emphasises the enhancement of soil health and the diversity of agricultural and wild species at a farm-scale. Perhaps surprisingly the role of agroecological systems in reducing net greenhouse gas emissions from food and farming is implicit rather than explicit. Despite some literature contrasting agroecological and technical approaches, many authors indicate that the desirability of farming practices should be determined by their impact at the appropriate scale. Sustainable intensification has been defined as maintaining or enhancing agricultural production while enhancing or maintaining the delivery of other ecosystem services. Approaches such as the Global Farm Metric and LEAF Marque Certification can support the integrated assessment of 12 groupings of attributes at a farm-scale covering inputs and outputs, and environmental and social impacts. In this report we reviewed the following 16 practices: crop rotations, conservation agriculture, cover crops, organic crop production, integrated pest management, the integration of livestock to crop systems, the integration of crops to livestock systems, field margin practices, pasture-fed livestock systems, multi-paddock grazing, organic livestock systems, tree crops, tree-intercropping, multistrata agroforestry and permaculture, silvopasture, and rewilding.
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    Evidence Project Final Report: Evaluating the productivity, environmental sustainability and wider impacts of agroecological compared to conventional farming systems
    (DEFRA, 2023-12-31) Burgess, Paul J.; Staley, Joanna T.; Hurley, Paul D.; Rose, David Christian; Redhead, John R.; McCracken, Morag E.; Girkin, Nicholas T.; Deeks, Lynda K.; Harris, Jim A.
    Agriculture is a major cause of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Agroecological and regenerative farming have been advocated as alternative approaches that may have fewer negative (or even net positive) environmental impacts than conventional agriculture at farm- and landscape-scales, leading to considerable interest in these approaches (Newton et al. 2020; Bohan et al. 2022; Prost et al. 2023). This report forms the third part of a Defra-funded project Evaluating the productivity, environmental sustainability and wider impacts of agroecological and regenerative farming systems compared to conventional systems. The first part of this project was a rapid evidence review of agroecological and regenerative farming systems and their impacts (Burgess et al. 2023), and the second reported interview findings to examine farmer and stakeholder perspectives on barriers and enablers in agroecological and regenerative farming (Hurley et al. 2023). This third part of the project characterised the current research capability in agroecology and regenerative farming, and explored the potential role of a new ‘living lab’ trial network.