What do we need to know to enhance the environmental sustainability of agricultural production? A prioritisation of knowledge needs for the UK food system

A - Papers appearing in refereed journals

Dicks, L. V., Bardgett, R. D., Bell, J., Benton, T. G., Booth, A., Bouwman, J., Brown, C., Bruce, A., Burgess, P. J., Butler, S. J., Crute, I. R., Dixon, F., Drummond, C., Freckleton, R. P., Gill, M., Graham, A., Hails, R. S., Hallett, J., Hart, B., Hillier, J., Holland, J. M., Huxley, J., Ingram, J. S. I., King, V., MacMillan, T., Mcgonigle, D. F., McQuaid, C. F., Nevard, T., Norman, S., Norris, K., Pazderka, C., Poonaji, I., Quinn, C. H., Ramsden, S. J., Sinclair, D., Siriwardena, G. M., Vickery, J. A., Whitmore, A. P., Wolmer, W. and Sutherland, W. J. 2013. What do we need to know to enhance the environmental sustainability of agricultural production? A prioritisation of knowledge needs for the UK food system. Sustainability. 5 (7), pp. 3095-3115. https://doi.org/10.3390/su5073095

AuthorsDicks, L. V., Bardgett, R. D., Bell, J., Benton, T. G., Booth, A., Bouwman, J., Brown, C., Bruce, A., Burgess, P. J., Butler, S. J., Crute, I. R., Dixon, F., Drummond, C., Freckleton, R. P., Gill, M., Graham, A., Hails, R. S., Hallett, J., Hart, B., Hillier, J., Holland, J. M., Huxley, J., Ingram, J. S. I., King, V., MacMillan, T., Mcgonigle, D. F., McQuaid, C. F., Nevard, T., Norman, S., Norris, K., Pazderka, C., Poonaji, I., Quinn, C. H., Ramsden, S. J., Sinclair, D., Siriwardena, G. M., Vickery, J. A., Whitmore, A. P., Wolmer, W. and Sutherland, W. J.
Abstract

Increasing concerns about global environmental change and food security have focused attention on the need for environmentally sustainable agriculture. This is agriculture that makes efficient use of natural resources and does not degrade the environmental systems that underpin it, or deplete natural capital stocks. We convened a group of 29 ‘practitioners’ and 17 environmental scientists with direct involvement or expertise in the environmental sustainability of agriculture. The practitioners included representatives from UK industry, non-government organizations and government agencies. We collaboratively developed a long list of 264 knowledge needs to help enhance the environmental sustainability of agriculture within the UK or for the UK market. We refined and selected the most important knowledge needs through a three-stage process of voting, discussion and scoring. Scientists and practitioners identified similar priorities. We present the 26 highest priority knowledge needs. Many of them demand integration of knowledge from different disciplines to inform policy and practice. The top five are about sustainability of livestock feed, trade-offs between ecosystem services at farm or landscape scale, phosphorus recycling and metrics to measure sustainability. The outcomes will be used to guide on-going knowledge exchange work, future science policy and funding.

Keywordsagriculture; environment; knowledge gaps; sustainability; farming; retail; food
Year of Publication2013
JournalSustainability
Journal citation5 (7), pp. 3095-3115
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.3390/su5073095
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
FunderBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Funder project or codeDelivering Sustainable Systems (SS) [ISPG]
Quantifying Sustainable Systems
Publisher's version
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online17 Jul 2013
Publication process dates
Accepted03 Jul 2015
PublisherMDPI
MDPI
Copyright licenseCC BY
ISSN2071-1050

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