CAWR Newsletter

December 2018

Our monthly newsletters are an easy way to keep up-to-date with new developments at our research centre. From successful project bids to upcoming events, our newsletter informs you on how we are 'driving innovative transdisciplinary research on resilient food and water systems.'

CAWR joins the Sustain Alliance

On Wednesday 12th December, Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming, met for their AGM and Annual Gathering at the Canal Museum, King’s Cross, London. Dr Ulrich Schmutz and Judith Conroy represented CAWR, whose membership was officially ratified at the meeting.

Sustain advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, to improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture, and promote equity. The alliance represents around 100 national public interest organisations working at international, national, regional and local level. CAWR and Sustain have previously worked together on projects such as Food Metres, and Sustain is an associate partner of Organic-PLUS, the CAWR-led EU Horizon 2020 project tackling contentious inputs in organic agriculture such as peat and antibiotics.

Congratulations Layla!

Layla Riches received her final result from the Board of Examiners on her PGCert in Management & Leadership with a 'Distinction'. Her studies for this qualification were between October 2016 - October 2018.

The Calthorpe Living Lab received the support and endorsement by the Mayor of London’s Crowdfund London Campaign 

The Calthorpe Living Lab is a community-based, small-scale, closed-loop system located at the Calthorpe Project around King’s Cross, Central London. The Living Lab combines micro anaerobic digestion with on-site food growing using raised beds, polytunnels and hydroponics. Food waste from the on-site community café is digested to produce biogas (used for cooking and extending the growing season) while the liquid fertiliser by-product supports plant growth in the garden. Food harvested supplies the café to close the loop.

With the generous support by CAWR’s Innovation Fund (£7000) in 2015, Dr Marina Chang, a research associate at CAWR and co-chair at the Calthorpe Project initiated Living Lab and has been instrumental to the design and  development of the Living Lab. Over the last four years, in collaboration with CAWR, the Calthorpe Living Lab has been recognised as a community champion to integrate research, education, public policy, community development and enterprise to build a coherent force for transformation. More recently, the Calthorpe Living Lab received a juicy pledge (£6000) from the Mayor of London’s Crowdfund London Campaign for its vision and contribution towards a sustainable food system and a sustainable city. 

Tripura

We have been working in Tripura, a NE Indian state, with farming communities who are testing the impact of introducing new crops into their rotations.  These participatory experiments are specifically investigating the effect on nutrition, biodiversity, economy and ‘practicality’.  Together with researchers, farmers selected new crops to include in their cropping.  The aim of the experiment was to test 1) whether growing the crops contributed increased nutrition to the household of the farmer engaged in the trial 2) delivered increased biodiversity and environmental benefits in local farms.  The trials were completed this year and farmers are now sharing the results of their experiments.  The results will be available in 2019. The work is funded by the Agroecology Fund and the academic partners are: Coventry University CAWR, University of Calcutta and the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development.

Spotlight on: Martin Wolfe

WHAT’S YOUR RESEARCH PASSION?

Agroforestry (integrated management of trees in farming) – because of the wide range of positive and simultaneous agroecological contributions it can make to the world’s No. 1 problem – global climate change – while making life on the land more enjoyable (and healthy) both for those directly involved and for those using the many kinds of output that can be developed.

WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON RIGHT NOW?

In the field, more ways of increasing diversity both within and among crops (annual and perennial) – something that I’ve been involved with for nearly six decades. In particular, agroforestry can provide the means of simultaneous production of a wide range of integrated field, tree and livestock crops together with associated biodiversity, carbon capture and renewable energy production. Local processing and distribution of the many farmed and foraged products can provide the means for decentralisation and decommodification of our food crops. This leads on to questions of how to increase the number of such local developments against current attitudes towards, for example, land ownership. An even broader question is that of stimulating long-term public interest in local food production and land use. One possible approach, which may help in dealing with broader social issues, is to consider the role that might be played by wide introduction of commons rights.

HOW DOES YOUR RESEARCH RELATE TO CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS?

Around the world, farming is split largely between small-scale family farms rooted in old, but often highly efficient, methods, and post-nineteenth century modernisation and industrialisation, which has often led to biological inefficiencies and damage. Energy production has also become centralised in recent times, based largely on fossil fuel combustion, with immense power losses in grid distribution. Agroforestry practised on small farms can integrate the best from old and new practices, decentralising both food and energy production in efficient and sustainable ways. 

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT?

Creating an alternative to monoculture use for cereal cropping. The first approach was by using simple seed mixtures in the 1970’s. More recently, it has been through the development of Composite Cross Populations (Evolutionary Breeding), which now has a growing market! Much of this was achieved while watching and participating in the growth and development of our agroforestry demonstration following planting in Spring 1994 through (so far) to its 25th birthday in Spring 2019.

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE FOR YOU?

A renaissance for the Wakelyns Agroforestry business to try to ensure long-term survival, development and public availability of the agroforestry demonstration.

HOMED

CAWR is a project partner in the new EU Horizon 2020 project HOMED (Holistic Management of Emerging forest pest and Diseases, and Katharina Dehnen-Schmutz attended the kick-off meeting at INRA Bordeaux in November. Adopting a holistic and multi-actor approach, HOMED aims to develop solutions for the management of emerging native and non-native pest and diseases threatening European forests. Within HOMED, forest health will be considered broadly, including trees not only in forests, but also in nurseries, urban and rural areas. Research at CAWR will support in particular the use of citizen science in gardens for the detection of outbreaks of pests and diseases as well as analysing the role of the ornamental plant trade for their introduction and spread working closely with the Royal Horticultural Society.

An Action-Research initiative on agroecological farming, the relocalisation of food systems and adaptation to climate change in the French Alps

Amplifying the transition towards relocalized food systems and agroecological farming in the Southern Alps of France : this is the main thrust of an Action-Research project initiated by a farmers’ association (ADEAR 05) and independent researcher and CAWR Research Fellow Carine Pionetti in 2015.

The project, now in its 4th year, has led to the creation of the GRAAP, Groupe de recherche-action sur l’Agroécologie paysanne, a collective of farmers, citizens and researchers committed to bringing about change in the food and farming system. The GRAAP is currently refining a road map for 2019-2020, as the Fondation de France and the French Environment and Energy Management Agency, the two main funding partners, have renewed their commitment to the project.

To date, the project has generated a grounded and nuanced understanding of the High-Alps food system and helped to connect actors involved in producing, processing and selling food at the local level. Participatory workshops, co-facilitated by researchers and farmers, and held in different locations, have enabled a process of co-learning on topics ranging from the impact of climate change on small farms to the relevance of mapping food system actors and their multiple interactions.

Supporting and strengthening collective action for mutual learning has been a key area of work. Two thematic groups have formalised into GIEE (Groupement d’intérêt économique et environnemental, a Ministry of Agriculture label designed to support collective action in agroecology): one is gender-based, and reinforces inter-generational solidarity networks among women farmers; the other focuses on promoting seed-saving practices and the use of local fodder varieties that are adapted to local, changing environmental conditions. These groups provide a space for farmer-to-farmer knowledge exchange networks, and a basis for better understanding the role of women in agroecological transitions in the Alps, on the one hand, and local perceptions of climate-related changes, on the other.

The Action-Research project builds on the social and political dimensions of agroecology, and explores conditions for transition to agroecological farming in a mountaineous region. It provides support to local, self-organised groups whose aim is to regain control over production and processing systems (including farmer-managed dairy cooperatives or small-scale slaughtering units) and to re-build social ties between producers, artesanal processors (organic bakers, cheese-makers…), and local inhabitants.

The research has also shed light on innovative models for distributing local and/or organic food products to school canteens or restaurants, and on factors contributing to changes in food habits. Recent collaborations with researchers specialised in climate change adaptation and in organic farming have opened up opportunities for testing adaptations options on the ground.

For more information, see the GRAAP’s website.

Congratulations to Rosa & Chloe! 

Rosa Van Kesteren successfully defended her PhD on "A practice theory approach to inequalities in healthy eating". A pass with very minor corrections!

Chloe MacLaren also passed her PhD earlier this month. The title of her thesis was “Exploring the ecological intensification of weed management in cropping systems of South Africa’s winter rainfall region."

Proteus: CAWR's new Linux server 

Jonathen Eden, Marco Van De Wiel, Bastien Dieppois and Martin Wilkes were successful in securing funding via the University’s Research Equipment scheme for a new Linux server to support CAWR’s research computing activities. In particular, they hope to increase the capacity for data storage and computer modelling across a range of water-based fields, including climate, hydrology, geomorphology and ecology.

The new system, named Proteus, was installed a couple of months ago. The testing phase has gone very smoothly and we are already starting to conduct analysis and produce results that previously would not have been possible. 

November Graduation 

CAWR had three PhD students graduate this November! 

Congratulations to Dr Lucia Foresi whose thesis was entitled 'Exploring Growers' Understanding of Sustainability and Resilience in Organic Greenhouse Horticulture. Italy vs United Kingdom.'

Congratulations to Dr Tristan Reader whose thesis was entitled ' "Thereby We Shall Live": Tohono O'odham Food Sovereignty and the Confluence of Quantum Leadership, Cultural Vitality, Public Health, and Economic Hybridity.'

Congratulations to Dr Christopher Yap whose thesis was entitled 'The Politics of Self-Organisationand the Social Production of Space in uRBAN community Gardens.' 

Events

SEMINAR: A 'joint' seminar combining diverse perspectives on urban agriculture in the US, South Africa and Mozambique

Anne C Bellows, PhD Students Nicole Paganini and Anja Schelchen

9th January 11:30-14:00

Live streamed via Facebook and recorded for our Youtube Channel

Click here to attend

SEMINAR: Exploring the ecological intensification of weed management in South African cropping systems

Chloe Maclaren

10th January 11:30-12:30

Live streamed via Facebook and recorded for our Youtube Channel

Click here to attend

SEMINAR: Developments to decrease pesticide pollution in the Great Barrier Reef and adjacent catchments in Queensland, Australia 

Michael Warne

15th January 14:00-15:00

Live streamed via Facebook and recorded for our Youtube Channel

Click here to attend

SEMINAR: Education for Sustainable Development in Egypt- The Business Model of Sekem & Heliopolis University

Dr Omar Ramzy

17th January 11:30-12:30

Live streamed via Facebook and recorded for our Youtube Channel

Click here to attend

SEMINAR: Water, modernity and violence in the Colombian Caribbean. The 20th Century in the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta / Planning to waste? The misunderstood practice of planning and its implications for food waste prevention

Sofia De La Rosa Solano + Jordon Lazell

31st January 11:30-12:30

Live streamed via Facebook and recorded for our Youtube Channel

Click here to attend

Publications 

Glavan, M., Schmutz, U., Williams, S., Corsi, S., Monaco, F., Kneafsey, M., Guzman Rodriguez, P. A., Čenič-Istenič, M. & Pintar, M. ... & Pintar, M. (2018). The economic performance of urban gardening in three European cities–examples from Ljubljana, Milan and London. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 36, 100-122

Monerie, P. A., Robson, J., Dong, B., Dieppois, B., Pohl, B., & Dunstone, N. (2018). Predicting the seasonal evolution of southern African summer precipitation in the DePreSys3 prediction system. Climate Dynamics, 1-20.