18th December
Fundamental Ecological Principles in Agricultural Systems
Session organiser: Pietro Iannetta (The James Hutton Institute)
11:20 Keynote speaker
An Evo-Ecological Approach to Agricultural Policy
PHIL GRIME (Dept Animal and Plant Science, University of Sheffield)
11:55 Darwin, Diversity and Future Land Use
M S WOLFE (The Organic Research Centre, Wakelyns Agroforestry, Fressingfield, Suffolk), J SMITH,
S PADEL, B PEARCE & N LAMPKIN (The Organic Research Centre, Elm Farm, Hamstead Marshall,
Berks)
12:10 Diversity for Resilience: multi-scale application of agro-ecology
HANNAH JONES, ABDULAZIZ ALHOMEDHI, JACOB BISHOP, BASTIAAN BRAK,
ROBERT BROWN, RACHEL ROBERTS, ALEXA VARAH & SIMON POTTS (School of Agriculture,
Policy & Development, University of Reading, Berks)
12.25 Practical Exploitation of Mycorrhizal Fungi in Agricultural Systems
ISABEL BRITO, MÁRIO CARVALHO, LUÍS ALHO (University of Évora, ICAAM, Évora, Portugal) &
MICHAEL J GOSS (University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada)
Systems Thinking in Agroecology
Session organisers:
Andy Goldring (Permaculture Association),
13:40 Keynote speaker
Transformational farming and the role of monitor farms
STEVEN NEWMAN (Biodiversity International Ltd, Buckingham)
14:15 An ecosystem services approach to productive land management in a farm scale catchment
CHRIS STOATE, JOHN SZCAUR et al.(GWCT Allerton Project, Loddington, Leics)
14:30 Approaches to cover cropping and the impact on soils and farming system
RON STOBART & NATHAN MORRIS (NIAB, Cambridge)
14:45 Biodiversity, productivity, and scale in resilient food production systems
NAOMI VAN DER VELDEN (University of Cumbria, Cumbria)
15:00 Developing a Model of Sustainably-Competitive Agriculture
GORDON PURVIS & LIAM DOWNEY (School of Agriculture & Food Science, University College
Dublin)
15:15 How could we design farmed landscapes for birds?
GAVIN M SIRIWARDENA (British Trust for Ornithology, Thetford, Norfolk
Resource Efficiency in Agro-ecosystems
Session organiser: Jo Smith (Organic Research Centre)
16:00 Keynote speaker
Improving resource use efficiency in UK agricultural systems
C A WATSON, D ROBERTS & A WATERHOUSE (SRUC, Aberdeen)
16:35 Rethinking agricultural systems using the permaculture-design approach
PETRO P M IANNETTA, GRAHAM BEGG (Ecological Services, James Hutton Institute, Dundee),
BARBARA SMITH (GWCT, Fordingbridge, Hants), CHRIS WARBURTON BROWN,
ANDY GOLDRING (BCM Permaculture Association, London), TOM HUGHES (Organic Research
Centre, Hamstead Marshall, Newbury ), EUAN K JAMES, MARK YOUNG, ALI KARLEY (Ecological
Services, James Hutton Institute, Dundee), JANET SPRENT (Division of Plant Sciences, Dundee
University, The James Hutton Institute, Dundee), CATHY HAWES, A NICK E BIRTH (Ecological
Services, James Hutton Institute, Dundee), ROBERT REES (Scotlands Rural College, Edinburgh ),
MARTIN WOLFE (The Organic Research Centre, Wakelyns Agroforestry, Fressingfield, Suffolk) &
GEOFF SQUIRE (Ecological Services, James Hutton Institute, Dundee)
16:50 The devil is in the detail: finding meaningful indicators of nutrient management on organic and
low-input farms
SUSANNE PADEL, CATHERINE GERRARD, KATHARINE LEACH (The Organic Research Centre,
Elm Farm, Hamstead Marshall, Berks), CAIRISTIONA TOPP (Future Farming Systems, SRUC,
Edinburgh) & CHRISTINE WATSON (SRUC, Aberdeen)
17:05 Hedges: an ecological approach to biofuel production
SALLY WESTAWAY (The Organic Research Centre, Hamstead Marshall Berks), ROB WOLTON
(Hedgelink, Hatherleigh, Devon), JO SMITH (The Organic Research Centre, Hamstead Marshall
Berks) & MARTIN WOLFE (The Organic Research Centre, Wakelyns Agroforestry, Fressingfield,
Suffolk)
17:20 Choices in intensity of management in beef production farms: impacts upon food production,
carbon emissions and biodiversity potential
TONY WATERHOUSE & PATRICIA RICCI (SRUC, Future Farming Systems, Edinburgh
19th December
Beyond the land sparing/land sharing debate
Session organiser: Lisa Norton (Centre for Ecology and Hydrology)
9:55 Keynote speaker
Land sparing versusland sharing: moving forward
JOERN FISCHER (Univeristy of Leuphana, Lüneburg, Germany)
11:00 Invited speaker
Are land sparing or land sharing real alternatives for European agricultural landscapes?
FELIX HERZOG (Agroscope, Zurich, Switzerland)
11.30 To what extent should environmental conservation be integrated with agricultural production?
NIGEL BOATMAN & NAOMI JONES (The Food and Environmental Research Agency, Sand
Hutton, York)
11:50 Reinvigorating the ridges: a case study in North Uist
O KNOX (SRUC, Edinburgh), T-J MARSDEN, S WARNICK (School of GeoScieces, Edinburgh
University), M SCHERBATSKOY (The Blackland Project, Grimsay, North Uist) & B HARVIE
(School of GeoScieces, Edinburgh University)
12.10 Moving beyond scientific debate towards sustainable production systems
LISA NORTON (Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Lancaster Environment Centre, Bailrigg,
Lancs)
Rethinking Agricultural Systems in the UK 