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Biochar application to temperate grasslands: challenges and opportunities for delivering multiple ecosystem services (2023)
Journal Article
Brown, R. W., Chadwick, D. R., Bott, T., West, H. M., Wilson, P., Hodgins, G. R., …Jones, D. L. (2023). Biochar application to temperate grasslands: challenges and opportunities for delivering multiple ecosystem services. Biochar, 5(1), Article 33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42773-023-00232-y

Grasslands (natural, semi-natural and improved) occupy approximately one-third of the terrestrial biosphere and are key for global ecosystem service provision, storing up to 30% of soil organic carbon (SOC). To date, most research on soil carbon (C)... Read More about Biochar application to temperate grasslands: challenges and opportunities for delivering multiple ecosystem services.

Nitrogen balance is a predictor of farm business performance in the English Farm Business Survey (2023)
Journal Article
Gray Betts, C., Hicks, D., Reader, M., & Wilson, P. (2023). Nitrogen balance is a predictor of farm business performance in the English Farm Business Survey. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 7, Article 1106196. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1106196

Global environmental sustainability and food security are fundamental societal issues, and most crop production relies upon inputs from organic or inorganic nitrogen sources. Previous research in the Global North has demonstrated a typical over appli... Read More about Nitrogen balance is a predictor of farm business performance in the English Farm Business Survey.

Environmental and farming practice controls of productivity of Cyrtosperma merkusii (giant swamp taro), an underutilised wetland and potential paludiculture crop (2023)
Journal Article
Mendiondo, G., Moko, E. M., Sparkes, D. L., Rahardiyan, D., Welham, S. J. M., O'Reilly, P., …Sjögersten, S. (2023). Environmental and farming practice controls of productivity of Cyrtosperma merkusii (giant swamp taro), an underutilised wetland and potential paludiculture crop. Food and Energy Security, 13(1), Article e490. https://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.490

Growing recognition of the potential vulnerabilities of major crop systems has spurred a growing interest in the potential of alternative crops which may be resilient to climate change and also help mitigate its effects. In Indonesia, such issues are... Read More about Environmental and farming practice controls of productivity of Cyrtosperma merkusii (giant swamp taro), an underutilised wetland and potential paludiculture crop.

More sustainable vegetable oil: Balancing productivity with carbon storage opportunities (2022)
Journal Article
Alcock, T. D., Salt, D. E., Wilson, P., & Ramsden, S. J. (2022). More sustainable vegetable oil: Balancing productivity with carbon storage opportunities. Science of the Total Environment, 829, Article 154539. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154539

Intensive cultivation and post-harvest vegetable oil production stages are major sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Variation between production systems and reporting disparity have resulted in discordance in previous emissions estimates. The... Read More about More sustainable vegetable oil: Balancing productivity with carbon storage opportunities.

Investigating the economic visibility and contribution of UK women in agriculture through a systematic review of international literature (2021)
Journal Article
Dunne, C., Siettou, C., & Wilson, P. (2021). Investigating the economic visibility and contribution of UK women in agriculture through a systematic review of international literature. Journal of Rural Studies, 86, 330-345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2021.06.012

The agricultural sector in developed countries has been experiencing a growth in the percentage of women, yet very little economic research documents the role and contribution of farm women across these countries. Through an interdisciplinary systema... Read More about Investigating the economic visibility and contribution of UK women in agriculture through a systematic review of international literature.

Short-term impacts of different tillage practices and plant residue retention on soil physical properties and greenhouse gas emissions (2020)
Journal Article
Alskaf, K., Mooney, S. J., Sparkes, D. L., Wilson, P., & Sjögersten, S. (2021). Short-term impacts of different tillage practices and plant residue retention on soil physical properties and greenhouse gas emissions. Soil and Tillage Research, 206, Article 104803. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2020.104803

© 2020 Elsevier B.V. Reducing tillage intensity and plant residue retention have the potential to mitigate climate change by reducing soil greenhouse gas emissions. Few comparative studies have explored the effects of different tillage practices and... Read More about Short-term impacts of different tillage practices and plant residue retention on soil physical properties and greenhouse gas emissions.

Operating at the extreme: Estimating the upper yield boundary of winter wheat production in commercial practice (2020)
Journal Article
Mitchell, E. G., Crout, N. M., Wilson, P., Wood, A. T., & Stupfler, G. (2020). Operating at the extreme: Estimating the upper yield boundary of winter wheat production in commercial practice. Royal Society Open Science, 7(4), https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.191919

© 2020 The Authors. Wheat farming provides 28.5% of global cereal production. After steady growth in average crop yield from 1950 to 1990, wheat yields have generally stagnated, which prompts the question of whether further improvements are possible.... Read More about Operating at the extreme: Estimating the upper yield boundary of winter wheat production in commercial practice.

Neglected intermediaries in bioenergy straw supply chains: Understanding the roles of merchants, contractors and agronomists in England (2019)
Journal Article
Helliwell, R., Seymour, S., & Wilson, P. (2020). Neglected intermediaries in bioenergy straw supply chains: Understanding the roles of merchants, contractors and agronomists in England. Energy Research and Social Science, 63, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2019.101387

Outside of Denmark, straw-based bioenergy has seen uneven success across Europe. In the UK, straw-based bioenergy has been positioned as making a potentially important contribution to the UK government's energy and environmental objectives. However,... Read More about Neglected intermediaries in bioenergy straw supply chains: Understanding the roles of merchants, contractors and agronomists in England.

The uptake of different tillage practices in England (2019)
Journal Article
Alskaf, K., Sparkes, D. L., Mooney, S. J., Sjögersten, S., & Wilson, P. (2020). The uptake of different tillage practices in England. Soil Use and Management, 36(1), 27-44. https://doi.org/10.1111/sum.12542

Reduced tillage systems have been argued to provide several potential benefits to soil, environment and to farm incomes. In England, while many farms have partially adopted such practices, a large proportion of arable farmers do not undertake reduced... Read More about The uptake of different tillage practices in England.

Analysis of the inherent energy-food dilemma of the Nigerian Biofuels Policy using Partial Equilibrium Model: the Nigerian Energy-Food Model (NEFM) (2018)
Journal Article
Ndukwe Agbai, D., & Wilson, P. (2018). Analysis of the inherent energy-food dilemma of the Nigerian Biofuels Policy using Partial Equilibrium Model: the Nigerian Energy-Food Model (NEFM). Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 98, 500-514. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2018.09.043

The Nigerian government plans to produce bioethanol from its staple food crops to increase transport fuel supply, reduce imported motors fuels, create jobs and diversify its oil dependent economy. However, the conflicts between the benefits of biofue... Read More about Analysis of the inherent energy-food dilemma of the Nigerian Biofuels Policy using Partial Equilibrium Model: the Nigerian Energy-Food Model (NEFM).

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., …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?.

Wheat straw availability for bioenergy in England (2018)
Journal Article
Townsend, T., Sparkes, D., Ramsden, S., Glithero, N., & Wilson, P. (2018). Wheat straw availability for bioenergy in England. Energy Policy, 122, 349-357. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.07.053

In an effort to meet energy demands while reducing carbon emissions, crop residues, such as wheat straw, have been investigated for their use as feedstock for biofuel production. In order to identify the feasibility of utilising crop residues as bioe... Read More about Wheat straw availability for bioenergy in England.

Metrics and methods for characterizing dairy farm intensification using farm survey data (2018)
Journal Article
Gonzalez-Mejia, A., Styles, D., Wilson, P., & Gibbons, J. (2018). Metrics and methods for characterizing dairy farm intensification using farm survey data. PLoS ONE, 13(5), Article e0195286. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195286

Evaluation of the sustainability of intensification requires comprehensive analysis of trends in farm performance across physical and socio-economic aspects, which may diverge across farm types. Typical reporting of economic indicators at sectorial o... Read More about Metrics and methods for characterizing dairy farm intensification using farm survey data.

Measuring sustainable intensification: combining composite indicators and efficiency analysis to account for positive externalities in cereal production (2018)
Journal Article
Areal, F. J., Jones, P. J., Mortimer, S. R., & Wilson, P. (2018). Measuring sustainable intensification: combining composite indicators and efficiency analysis to account for positive externalities in cereal production. Land Use Policy, 75, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.04.001

We combine the use of a stochastic frontier analysis framework and composite indicators for farm provision of environmental goods to obtain a farm level composite indicator reflecting sustainable intensification. The novel sustainable intensification... Read More about Measuring sustainable intensification: combining composite indicators and efficiency analysis to account for positive externalities in cereal production.

Integrating the economic and environmental performance of agricultural systems: a demonstration using Farm Business Survey data and Farmscoper (2018)
Journal Article
Lynch, J., Skirvin, D., Wilson, P., & Ramsden, S. (in press). Integrating the economic and environmental performance of agricultural systems: a demonstration using Farm Business Survey data and Farmscoper. Science of the Total Environment, 628-629, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.01.256

There is a continued need to monitor the environmental impacts of agricultural systems while also ensuring sufficient agricultural production. However, it can be difficult to collect relevant environmental data on a large enough number of farms and s... Read More about Integrating the economic and environmental performance of agricultural systems: a demonstration using Farm Business Survey data and Farmscoper.

Estimated differences in economic and environmental performance of forage-based dairy herds across the UK (2018)
Journal Article
Bell, M. J., & Wilson, P. (in press). Estimated differences in economic and environmental performance of forage-based dairy herds across the UK. Food and Energy Security, Article e00127. https://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.127

Differences in performance among the areas of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can provide some insight into the resilience of UK milk supplies from forage-based dairy herds. This study used a Markov Chain approach to model the average h... Read More about Estimated differences in economic and environmental performance of forage-based dairy herds across the UK.

Estimated differences in economic and environmental performance of dairy herds across the UK (2017)
Journal Article
Bell, M. J., & Wilson, P. (2017). Estimated differences in economic and environmental performance of dairy herds across the UK. Aspects of Applied Biology, 136,

Production data were obtained from about half a million milk recorded dairy cows and the Farm Business Surveys for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This study modelled the average herd in each region between the years 2010 to 2015 and a... Read More about Estimated differences in economic and environmental performance of dairy herds across the UK.

Integrating economic and environmental impact analysis: the case of rice-based farming in northern Thailand (2017)
Journal Article
Ramsden, S. J., Wilson, P., & Phrommarat, B. (2017). Integrating economic and environmental impact analysis: the case of rice-based farming in northern Thailand. Agricultural Systems, 157, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2017.06.006

Crop production is associated with a range of potential environmental impacts, including field 9 emissions of greenhouse gases, loss of nitrogen and phosphorous nutrients to water and toxicity 10 effects on humans and natural ecosystems. Farmers can... Read More about Integrating economic and environmental impact analysis: the case of rice-based farming in northern Thailand.

Food and bioenergy: exploring ideotype traits of a dual-purpose wheat cultivar (2016)
Journal Article
Townsend, T. J., Roy, J., Wilson, P., Tucker, G. A., & Sparkes, D. L. (2017). Food and bioenergy: exploring ideotype traits of a dual-purpose wheat cultivar. Field Crops Research, 201, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2016.11.007

Lignocellulosic biofuels, such as those produced from crop residues, offer the possibility of reducing GHG emissions in the transport sector. Wheat straw is one potential feedstock for these fuels but grain yield has been prioritised over straw yield... Read More about Food and bioenergy: exploring ideotype traits of a dual-purpose wheat cultivar.

Analysing reduced tillage practices within a bio-economic modelling framework (2016)
Journal Article
Townsend, T. J., Ramsden, S. J., & Wilson, P. (2016). Analysing reduced tillage practices within a bio-economic modelling framework. Agricultural Systems, 146, 91-102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2016.04.005

Sustainable Intensification of agricultural production systems will require changes in farm practice. Within arable cropping systems, reducing the intensity of tillage practices (e.g. reduced tillage) potentially offers one such sustainable intensifi... Read More about Analysing reduced tillage practices within a bio-economic modelling framework.