CAWR Newsletter

February 2023

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 equitable, sustainable and resilient food and water systems.'

The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the contributors at the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Coventry University.

In celebration of soft fruit

Tom from the Ryton Grounds team selecting blackcurrant cuttings

CAWR researchers and the Coventry University Grounds team have worked together to establish a soft fruit nursery bed at Ryton Organic Gardens.

Blackcurrants, gooseberries, redcurrants and whitecurrants grown from propagation material donated by 5 Acre Community Farm will be made available to participants in the AE4EU project’s Coventry Agroecological Living Lab.

Soft fruit crops are a great potential opportunity for growers to diversify: they are well suited to the UK climate, require relatively little cultivation and maintenance, are highly nutritious and provide forage for insects at an important time in spring.

Community approaches to preserving Coventry’s heritage apple varieties

CU researchers and Coventry Tree Wardens track down apple trees at Charterhouse Park, Coventry, a former allotment site

CAWR researchers have received £1873 from CU Research Excellence Development Fund to enable a pilot project. With the support of volunteers from local Tree Warden groups the project will: 

·       Preserve heritage apple varieties found at Charterhouse Park, by collecting scions, grafting on to rootstock and establishing a small collection of around forty apple trees.

·       Establish with volunteer participants the feasibility and format of community grafting workshops to extend the collection and preservation of heritage apples to wider Coventry area, and hold a pilot community apple grafting workshop.

·       Seek further funding for community tree nursery research and local apple research.

In collaboration with the Youth articulation of the European Coordination of la Via Campesina, Priscilla Claeys and Barbara Van Dyck conducted a study to assess the working and learning conditions of young agricultural workers, interns and volunteers across Europe. The report is now available in EN, FR and ES here.

Agroforestry Open Weekend 2023

Interested in agroforestry or sustainable farming practices? Then join us for this year’s Agroforestry Open Weekend! Farmers across the UK, Ireland and beyond who are already working closely with trees will be opening their gates to the public over 19-21 May. Find out who’s participating in your area, how to book and more here.

First Publication for CAWR Doctoral Researcher

Congratulations to CAWR PhD student Emma Burnett who recently published the first paper from her doctoral research! Titled 'Essential elements of self-organization illustrated through localized agri-food systems', it inspects what needs to be in place before self-organisation can occur.

Click here to read the Open Access article.

CAWR delegation make South Africa tour

Professor Sue Charlesworth, PhD student Peter Hollings and Julia Stew, Research Delivery Support Partner, visited Dr Kevin Winter at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the Water Hub to see progress in the bioremediation of polluted river water flowing through an informal settlement.

The effluent is used to irrigate small urban gardens for the use of the community. Whilst there, Sue planted over 1000 vegetable seeds (see photo above), Peter helped clean out one of the 16m x 3m x 1m tanks and Julia met with the heads of departments who administer and support research at UCT. Sue and Peter met with researchers and PhD students to discuss their projects at UCT. The group examined the fynbos (areas of heath and scrub) for Peter’s PhD (see photo below) and also visited a cooperative making biochar from alien, invasive tree species to investigate its potential to improve water quality at the Water Hub.

CAWR gives opening speech at the IX international Congress of Agroecology

Michel addresses congress delegates 

Professor Michel Pimbert gave the opening plenary talk at the IX International Congress of Agroecology in Sevilla in Spain on 19th January 2023.

This international congress was attended in person by over 500 participants and by another 650 on line participants. The title of Michel’s 50 minute presentation was ‘Contesting and constructing agroecology for the well-being of people and nature'. He discussed some of the most contested issues and battlegrounds that are shaping the development of agroecology today, including discourses on modernity and the future of food and farming, the politics of knowledge and control over research, transformation for ecological sustainability, economics, and governance.

No recording of this opening speech was made during this congress. However, several of the main themes in Michel’s talk are based on his recently published paper in Mondes en Développement.

Sending good wishes to all women and supporters on International Women’s Day!

International Women’s Day on 8th March celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The flower of International Women’s day is mimosa and this CAWR mimosa (see photo above) flowered early last year, on 6th January.

EU funded AGROMIX project hosts its first policy co-design workshop

AGROMIX delegates in the meeting room at Cranfield University

On January 30th the EU-funded project, AGROMIX, hosted the first in a series of policy co-design workshops at project partner Cranfield University. Organising/presenting from Coventry University were Rosemary Venn, Julia Wright, Katharina Dehnen-Schmutz, Marco van de Wiel, and Ulrich Schmutz.

Twenty-eight representatives from civil society, land owning institutions, farmers and academia met to discuss the future of agroforestry in England with respect to on-going policy developments, challenges and opportunities. Participants heard from the Organic Research Centre on a progress update of the DEFRA Environmental Land Management Scheme Agroforestry Test and Trial. In subsequent discussion, payment and tenancy issues emerged as the main concerns for the group. A follow-on workshop will be held in June 2023 and a video is available here.

Tree Buyer Survey Research Opportunity

The team behind the Growing Connections project, carrying out research on Community Tree Nurseries and tree procurement, are looking for support. Sam Green and Liz Trenchard would be grateful if anyone who has ever bought one tree, or many trees, in the UK would take their tree buyer survey.

Science and Poetry under discussion

Lucy Aphramor will be the discussant for a reading of Mary Midgely’s book Science and Poetry which will take place on 23^rd March. The event is one of the Composting the City study sessions at Warwick University, which its organisers describe as a blend of academia and imagination. They hope that participants will explore and weave together threads of imaginaries for collective, caring and equitable urban futures.

Research Scoping and Collaboration in Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands

Scoping visit team (left to right) Zeddy Chikukua, Kudza Chatiza, Chas Morrison, George McAllister, Sandra Bhatasara. 

In January, George McAllister (CAWR) and Chas Morrison (CTPSR) undertook preparatory fieldwork in Zimbabwe’s oldest agroecological community of Chikukwa.

The visit was an opportunity to bring together a team of co-researchers from the University of Zimbabwe (Sandra Bhatasara), the Development Governance Institute (Kudzai Chatiza) and the Chikukwa Ecological Land Use Community Trust (Zeddy Chikukwa).

The planned project focuses on bridging layers of in/formal resource governance to co-generate inclusive environmental action plans involving a range of actor-networks already present in the community. During the visit it was possible to meet with (and receive customary blessings from) Chief Chikuwa and his council of elders, officials from the Rural District Council, and networks representing women and young people, the youth forum theatre group, seed custodians, and the ward peace team.

The project seeks to investigate mechanisms for improving women and young people’s participation in more transparent decision-making, and to support seed sovereignty for improved disaster resilience.

Discussion with youth group 

Brexit Challenges for Organic Trade - CAWR Mission to the Global Trade Fair and Congress

Ulrich and Julia at the Trade Fair

Julia Wright and Ulrich Schmutz attended the annual International Organic Trade Fair and Congress – Biofach – at the Nuremberg conference centre in Germany.

Biofach attracts approximately 24,000 trade visitors from over 100 countries. Whilst the main objective of this mission was to develop partnership consortia for forthcoming EU funding calls through Technology Platform Organics, the direct impacts of Brexit were evident by the lack of UK organic businesses represented amongst the over 2,000 small-to-medium scale exhibitors at the Fair.

Higher import/export costs and paperwork were cited as the two main limiting factors, along with a lack of government support and the ongoing financial and regulatory uncertainties within the UK organic sector in general. In addition, companies that had previously used the UK as their European base for importing organic products into the EU had been forced to relocate, taking this trade flow with them. For the future, CAWR is seeking to support innovation in this ecological market segment.

Events

Catch up on our events and seminars by visiting our YouTube channel

Publications

Burnett, E. (2023). Essential elements of self-organization illustrated through localized agri-food systems. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.

Pimbert, M.P.( 2022). Transforming food and agriculture: Competing visions and major controversies. Mondes en développement, 199-200. pp361- 384. https://doi.org/10.3917/med.199.0365

Folorunsho, O., Bogush, A., & Kourtchev, I. (2023). A new on-line SPE LC-HRMS method for simultaneous analysis of selected emerging contaminants in surface waters. Analytical Methods, 15, pp284-296, doi.org/10.1039/D2AY01574A

Pimbert, M. (2022), Avant propos, in Barbier, M., Lamine, C., Couix, N. (dir.) Pratiques et savoirs agricoles dans la transition agroécologique. Editions des archives contemporaines, Coll. «Etudes des sciences et Histoire des techniques», France, ISBN: 9782813003560, pp. 1-2.

Wong S., Armenise S., Nyakuma B.B., Ng P., Lee C., Bogush A., Launay F., Rebrov E., Muñoz M. (2022) Catalytic pyrolysis of plastics over maghemite-impregnated mesocellular foam using induction heating. Chemical Engineering Transactions, 97, DOI: 10.3303/CET2297005

Wynberg, R., Pimbert, M., Moeller, N., McAllister, G., Bezner Kerr, R., Singh, J., Belay, M. & Ngcoya, M. (2023) Nature-Based Solutions and Agroecology: Business as Usual or an Opportunity for Transformative Change?, Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 65:1, pp15-22

Hamidi M.D., Kissane S., Bogush A.A., Karim A.Q., Sagintayev J., Towers S., Greenwell C.H.C. (2022) Spatial estimation of groundwater quality, hydrogeochemical investigation, and health impacts of shallow groundwater in Kabul city, Afghanistan. Sustainable Water Resources Management, 9, 20. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40899-022-00808-9

Wong S.L., Armenise S., Nyakuma B.B., Bogush A., Towers S., Lee S.H., Wong K.Y., Lee T.H., Rebrov E., Muñoz M. (2022) Plastic Pyrolysis over HZSM-5 Zeolite and Fluid Catalytic Cracking Catalyst under Ultra-Fast Heating. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis (IF 6.437), 105793. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaap.2022.105793 

Lavers, T., Charlesworth, S. Lashford, C., Warwick F., and Fried, J. (2022) The performance of Natural Flood Management at the large catchment-scale: A case study in the Warwickshire Stour Valley. Water SI Surface Water Management: Recent Advances and Challenges.

Tjahjono B., Beltran M., Lazell J., Bek D., Bogush, A.(2022) Prototyping Solutions – Findings from the third UK SIMBIO social innovation lab – and SIMBIO project implications, 25th of November, 2021. Coventry: Coventry University, Centre for Business in Society (CBiS).

Dehnen-Schmutz, K, Pescott, O, Booy, O, Walker, K (2022): Integrating expert knowledge at regional and national scales improves impact assessments of non-native species. NeoBiota 77: pp79-100. (open access)

Tittonell, P., El Mujtar, V., Félix, G.F., Kebede, Y., Laborda, L., Luján Soto, R. & de Vente, J. (2022) Regenerative agriculture—agroecology without politics? Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 6:844261.