What agricultural practices are most likely to deliver ‘sustainable intensification’ in the UK?

Dicks, L.V.; Rose, D.C.; Ang, F.; Aston, S.; Birch, A.N.E.; Boatman, N.; Bowles,  L.; Chadwick, D.; Dinsdale, A.; Durham, S.; Elliott, J.; Firbank, L.; Humphreys, S.; Jarvis, P.; Jones, D.; Kindred, D.; Knight, S.M.; Lee, M.R.F.; Leifert, C.; Lobley, M.; Matthews, K.; Midmer, A.; Moore, M.; Morris, C.; Mortimer, S.; Murray, T.C.; Norman, K.; Ramsden, S.; Roberts, D.; Smith, L.G.; Soffe, R.; Stoate, C.; Taylor, B.; Tinker, D.; Topliff, M.; Wallace, J.; Williams, P.; Wilson, P.; Winter, M.; Sutherland, W.J.

doi:10.1002/fes3.148

Mobilising the food system concept: unpacking debates and applications (2025)
Journal Article
Maye, D., Helliwell, R., & Morris, C. (2025). Mobilising the food system concept: unpacking debates and applications. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 31(1), 147-166

The food system concept has become the ‘go-to’ framework to galvanise discussion and bring together academics, policymakers and industry stakeholders to debate changes needed in how our food is grown, made, sold, eaten and governed. The concept is no... Read More about Mobilising the food system concept: unpacking debates and applications.

Biochar in the UK Print News Media: Issue Frames and Their Implications for Opening up Debate About Land-based Greenhouse Gas Removal (2024)
Journal Article
Morris, C., Price, C., & Nerlich, B. (2024). Biochar in the UK Print News Media: Issue Frames and Their Implications for Opening up Debate About Land-based Greenhouse Gas Removal. Environmental Communication, 18(8), 1168-1185. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2024.2357318

Biochar is a land-based greenhouse gas removal technology with potential to address the climate crisis. This article examines societal debate and discussion around biochar as represented in the UK print news media and reflects on its implications for... Read More about Biochar in the UK Print News Media: Issue Frames and Their Implications for Opening up Debate About Land-based Greenhouse Gas Removal.

Modelling the impact of wastewater flows and management practices on antimicrobial resistance in dairy farms (2024)
Journal Article
Todman, H., Helliwell, R., King, L., Blanchard, A., Gray-Hammerton, C. J., Hooton, S. P., Baker, M., Margerison, J., Wilson, P., Dodd, C. E. R., Morris, C., Raman, S., Hudson, C., Kreft, J.-U., Hobman, J. L., Kypraios, T., & Stekel, D. J. (2024). Modelling the impact of wastewater flows and management practices on antimicrobial resistance in dairy farms. npj Antimicrobials and Resistance, 2(1), Article 13. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44259-024-00029-4

Dairy slurry is a major source of environmental contamination with antimicrobial resistant genes and bacteria. We developed mathematical models and conducted on-farm research to explore the impact of wastewater flows and management practices on antim... Read More about Modelling the impact of wastewater flows and management practices on antimicrobial resistance in dairy farms.

Mainstreaming social sciences expertise in UK environment policy and practice organisations: retrospect and prospect (2024)
Journal Article
Morris, C., Brockett, B. F., Selwood, S., Carr, V., Hall, J., Hughes, J., & Ambrose-Oji, B. (2024). Mainstreaming social sciences expertise in UK environment policy and practice organisations: retrospect and prospect. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11(1), Article 399. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-02891-z

Building upon the concept of mainstreaming social sciences within conservation, we consider their mainstreaming, and so integration, within UK environment policy and practice (EPP) organisations. The paper responds to increasing calls to recognise th... Read More about Mainstreaming social sciences expertise in UK environment policy and practice organisations: retrospect and prospect.

Biochar carbon markets: A mitigation deterrence threat (2024)
Journal Article
Price, C., Morris, J., & Morris, C. (2024). Biochar carbon markets: A mitigation deterrence threat. Environmental Science and Policy, 154, Article 103704. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103704

This article aims to add to the emerging empirical mitigation deterrence literature by drawing on ongoing research into a particular form of greenhouse gas removal technology – biochar – and associated biochar carbon markets. As such, the aim of this... Read More about Biochar carbon markets: A mitigation deterrence threat.

Biochar in the British print news media: an analysis of promissory discourse and the creation of expectations about carbon removal (2023)
Journal Article
Nerlich, B., Morris, C., Price, C., & Harris, H. (2024). Biochar in the British print news media: an analysis of promissory discourse and the creation of expectations about carbon removal. Science as Culture, 33(3), 392-416. https://doi.org/10.1080/09505431.2023.2285057

Biochar is amongst a growing suite of approaches developed to address the climate crisis by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere; yet public awareness of biochar is low. In this situation, mass-media reporting plays an important role in making... Read More about Biochar in the British print news media: an analysis of promissory discourse and the creation of expectations about carbon removal.

Searching for the “politics of the possible” in flexitarianism (2023)
Journal Article
Morris, C., Kelsey, S., & Harper, L.-R. (2025). Searching for the “politics of the possible” in flexitarianism. Food, Culture and Society, 28(1), 20-40. https://doi.org/10.1080/15528014.2023.2175993

The paper builds on recent flexitarianism scholarship by approaching this heterogeneous dietary category as a socio-cultural and political economic, rather than just a psychological phenomenon. It does this by drawing on Edmund Harris’s conceptualiza... Read More about Searching for the “politics of the possible” in flexitarianism.

Antimicrobial resistance in dairy slurry tanks: a critical point for measurement and control (2022)
Journal Article
Baker, M., Williams, A. D., Hooton, S. P., Helliwell, R., King, E., Dodsworth, T., María Baena-Nogueras, R., Warry, A., Ortori, C. A., Todman, H., Gray-Hammerton, C. J., C. W. Pritchard, A., Iles, E., Cook, R., Emes, R. D., Jones, M. A., Kypraios, T., West, H., Barrett, D. A., Ramsden, S. J., …Stekel, D. J. (2022). Antimicrobial resistance in dairy slurry tanks: a critical point for measurement and control. Environment International, 169, Article 107516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2022.107516

Waste from dairy production is one of the largest sources of contamination from antimicrobial resistant bacteria (ARB) and genes (ARGs) in many parts of the world. However, studies to date do not provide necessary evidence to inform antimicrobial res... Read More about Antimicrobial resistance in dairy slurry tanks: a critical point for measurement and control.

Assembling antimicrobial resistance governance in UK animal agriculture (2022)
Journal Article
Helliwell, R., Morris, C., & Jones, S. (2022). Assembling antimicrobial resistance governance in UK animal agriculture. Sociologia Ruralis, 62(3), 587-610. https://doi.org/10.1111/soru.12377

The desire to govern antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in animal agriculture has gained renewed prominence in the UK and international policy and practice in response to growing concern about the impact of AMR infections on human and animal health. This... Read More about Assembling antimicrobial resistance governance in UK animal agriculture.

Governing plant-centred eating at the urban scale in the UK: The Sustainable Food Cities network and the reframing of dietary biopower (2021)
Journal Article
Morris, C., Kaljonen, M., & Hadley Kershaw, E. (2021). Governing plant-centred eating at the urban scale in the UK: The Sustainable Food Cities network and the reframing of dietary biopower. Geographical Journal, 188(3), Article 358-369. https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12388

Recent years have seen an increase in actions to address a key feature of food in the Anthropocene: the over-production and consumption of animal-based foods or “animalisation” of diets. However, it is unclear whether such efforts can be understood a... Read More about Governing plant-centred eating at the urban scale in the UK: The Sustainable Food Cities network and the reframing of dietary biopower.

Priorities for social science and humanities research on the challenges of moving beyond animal-based food systems (2021)
Journal Article
Morris, C., Kaljonen, M., Aavik, K., Balázs, B., Cole, M., Coles, B., Efstathiu, S., Fallon, T., Foden, M., Haifa Giraud, E., Goodman, M., Hadley Kershaw, E., Helliwell, R., Hobson-West, P., Häyry, M., Jallinoja, P., Jones, M., Kaarlenkaski, T., Laihonen, M., Lähteenmäki-Uutela, A., …White, R. (2021). Priorities for social science and humanities research on the challenges of moving beyond animal-based food systems. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 8, Article 38. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-021-00714-z

Increasingly high-profile research is being undertaken into the socio-environmental challenges associated with the over-production and consumption of food from animals. Transforming food systems to mitigate climate change and hidden hunger, ensure fo... Read More about Priorities for social science and humanities research on the challenges of moving beyond animal-based food systems.

Antibiotic stewardship and its implications for agricultural animal-human relationships: Insights from an intensive dairy farm in England (2020)
Journal Article
Helliwell, R., Morris, C., & Raman, S. (2020). Antibiotic stewardship and its implications for agricultural animal-human relationships: Insights from an intensive dairy farm in England. Journal of Rural Studies, 78, 447-456. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2020.07.008

The concept of antibiotic stewardship has recently gained prominence in UK and EU policy and practice as part of wider efforts to reduce antibiotic use in agriculture and respond to concerns about antimicrobial resistance. The purpose of the paper is... Read More about Antibiotic stewardship and its implications for agricultural animal-human relationships: Insights from an intensive dairy farm in England.

Can resistant infections be perceptible in UK dairy farming? (2019)
Journal Article
Morris, C., Helliwell, R., & Raman, S. (2019). Can resistant infections be perceptible in UK dairy farming?. Palgrave Communications, 5, Article 12. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0220-2

This paper interrogates the claim that antimicrobial resistant infections are rarely encountered in animal agriculture. This has been widely reiterated by a range of academic, policy and industry stakeholders in the UK. Further support comes from the... Read More about Can resistant infections be perceptible in UK dairy farming?.

Making science public: challenges and opportunities (2019)
Report
Raman, S., Nerlich, B., Cartelet, C., de Saille, S., Hadley Kershaw, E., Hartley, S., Hobson-West, P., Holmwood, J., Lowndes, V., Madziva, R., Martin, P., McLeod, C., Millar, K., Mohr, A., Morris, C., Pearce, W., Seymour, S., Smith, A., Spencer, A., & Tsouvalis, J. (2019). Making science public: challenges and opportunities. Leverhulme Trust

This Programme investigated the relationship between science, politics and publics in the aftermath of an influential 2000 UK House of Lords Science and Society report. We conceptualised top-down initiatives promising greater transparency around the... Read More about Making science public: challenges and opportunities.

Substitution and food system de-animalisation: the case of non-dairy milk (2019)
Journal Article
Morris, C., Mylan, J., & Beech, E. (2019). Substitution and food system de-animalisation: the case of non-dairy milk. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 25(1), 490-506

Situated within the context of concerns about sustainability and the over production and consumption of foods from animals the paper extends the emerging social science research field that addresses the ‘de-animalisation’ of the food system to explor... Read More about Substitution and food system de-animalisation: the case of non-dairy milk.

Participatory research approaches to integrating scientific and farmer knowledge of soil to meet multiple objectives in the English East Midlands (2019)
Journal Article
Morris, C., Seymour, S., Jones, S., Stoate, C., & Crotty, F. (2019). Participatory research approaches to integrating scientific and farmer knowledge of soil to meet multiple objectives in the English East Midlands. Soil Use and Management, 35(1), 150-159. https://doi.org/10.1111/sum.12488

Soil management influences food production, economic performance of farm businesses, and a range of public benefits such as water quality, flood control and aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity. The aim of this paper is to explore the role of part... Read More about Participatory research approaches to integrating scientific and farmer knowledge of soil to meet multiple objectives in the English East Midlands.

“The good guys are doing it anyway”: the accommodation of environmental concern among English and Welsh farmers (2018)
Journal Article
Wheeler, R., Lobley, M., Winter, M., & Morris, C. (2018). “The good guys are doing it anyway”: the accommodation of environmental concern among English and Welsh farmers. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 1(4), 664-687. https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848618817487

Farmers today are increasingly facing pressure from policy and market forces to improve their environmental performance. Yet – despite widespread recognition of the negative externalities of agriculture on a national and global scale – many farmers w... Read More about “The good guys are doing it anyway”: the accommodation of environmental concern among English and Welsh farmers.

Rage against the regime: niche-regime interactions in the societal embedding of plant-based milk (2018)
Journal Article
Mylan, J., Morris, C., Beech, E., & Geels, F. W. (2019). Rage against the regime: niche-regime interactions in the societal embedding of plant-based milk. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 31, 233-247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2018.11.001

This paper engages with the debate on niche-regime interactions in sustainability transitions, using a study of plant-based milk and its struggles against the entrenched liquid dairy-milk regime, which has various sustainability problems. Plant-based... Read More about Rage against the regime: niche-regime interactions in the societal embedding of plant-based milk.

Beyond individuals: Toward a “distributed” approach to farmer decision-making behavior (2018)
Journal Article
Rose, D. C., Keating, C., Vrain, E., & Morris, C. (2018). Beyond individuals: Toward a “distributed” approach to farmer decision-making behavior. Food and Energy Security, 7(4), Article e00155. https://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.155

What agricultural practices are most likely to deliver ‘sustainable intensification’ in the UK? (2018)
Journal Article
Dicks, L., Rose, D., Ang, F., Aston, S., Birch, A., Boatman, N., Bowles, . L., Chadwick, D., Dinsdale, A., Durham, S., Elliott, J., Firbank, L., Humphreys, S., Jarvis, P., Jones, D., Kindred, D., Knight, S., Lee, M., Leifert, C., Lobley, M., …Sutherland, W. (2019). What agricultural practices are most likely to deliver ‘sustainable intensification’ in the UK?. Food and Energy Security, 8(1), Article e00148. https://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.148

Sustainable intensification is a process by which agricultural productivity is enhanced whilst also creating environmental and social benefits. We aimed to identify practices likely to deliver sustainable intensification, currently available for UK f... Read More about What agricultural practices are most likely to deliver ‘sustainable intensification’ in the UK?.

All Outputs (32)