Increasing resilience to water-related risk in the UK fresh fruit & vegetable system.
Lead Research Organisation:
Cranfield University
Department Name: School of Water, Energy and Environment
Abstract
The supply of fresh fruit and vegetables to the UK consumer is dependent on a secure supply of freshwater, both in the UK and in countries from which we import fresh produce. However, we grow these crops in the most water-scarce parts of the UK and import large volumes from water-scarce countries (such as Israel, Spain, South Africa and Egypt). This means that the fresh fruit and vegetable system is exposed to a range of "water-related risks", including drought and water scarcity, but also poor water quality, changing water regulations and risk to the reputation of retailers if seen to be "contributing to drought". Meanwhile, climate is changing; other demands for water (including the need to leave water in the environment to support the ecosystem) are increasing; and we are all being encouraged to eat more fresh fruit and vegetables as part of a healthy diet.
By using case-studies in south and eastern England and South Africa, this project will explore how and where the system is exposed to water-related risk (both now and in the future). It will seek to develop ways in which people and organisations (including growers, retailers, consumers and policy makers) can change their methods of working to reduce the impact of these risks on the security of supply, without causing unwanted impacts on others in the system or the environment. That is, making the fresh fruit and vegetable system more "resilient" to water related risk. The project team involves experts in plant science, agriculture, environmental science, irrigation technologies, applied mathematics, sociology and water politics to ensure a broad view of the issue.
By using case-studies in south and eastern England and South Africa, this project will explore how and where the system is exposed to water-related risk (both now and in the future). It will seek to develop ways in which people and organisations (including growers, retailers, consumers and policy makers) can change their methods of working to reduce the impact of these risks on the security of supply, without causing unwanted impacts on others in the system or the environment. That is, making the fresh fruit and vegetable system more "resilient" to water related risk. The project team involves experts in plant science, agriculture, environmental science, irrigation technologies, applied mathematics, sociology and water politics to ensure a broad view of the issue.
Technical Summary
This project aims to increase the resilience of the UK fresh fruit and vegetables (FF&V) system (from grower to consumer) to current, and future, water-related risks. It is based around two case-study regions - S&E England (domestic production) and S Africa (imported production) as these are both important producing areas; are exposed to significant water-related risks; but have very different socio-political contexts. There are 4 key research questions:
1. How, and where, is the FF&V system exposed to water-related risks and how may these change in the future? The integration of sourcing data with vulnerability will allow the development of a set of scenarios of the water-related risks to the system describing how interacting, uncertain stressors and drivers of change might develop, and the consequent vulnerability hotspots, now and in the future.
2. What does a water-resilient FF&V system look like at a societal level? We will conduct workshops in S & E England and S Africa to build system models that allow for the exploration of resilience from diverse perspectives, and that help identify trade-offs and opportunities.
3. Are measures to increase water efficiency complementary with increased resilience? We will critically review the relevant options for a) water saving b) increasing marketable yield and c) increasing water reliability through grower surveys to evaluate the impacts on system vulnerability and resilience.
4. How can the FF&V system work together to become more resilient to water-related risks in the future? Using the system models (2) and responses (3) we will explore how the UK FF&V system may respond to water-related disruptions? How do different interventions affect the resilience of different stakeholders, and what are the trade-offs? What "off-farm" (e.g. governance) strategies can be applied to cope with, or adapt to, increasing vulnerability?
1. How, and where, is the FF&V system exposed to water-related risks and how may these change in the future? The integration of sourcing data with vulnerability will allow the development of a set of scenarios of the water-related risks to the system describing how interacting, uncertain stressors and drivers of change might develop, and the consequent vulnerability hotspots, now and in the future.
2. What does a water-resilient FF&V system look like at a societal level? We will conduct workshops in S & E England and S Africa to build system models that allow for the exploration of resilience from diverse perspectives, and that help identify trade-offs and opportunities.
3. Are measures to increase water efficiency complementary with increased resilience? We will critically review the relevant options for a) water saving b) increasing marketable yield and c) increasing water reliability through grower surveys to evaluate the impacts on system vulnerability and resilience.
4. How can the FF&V system work together to become more resilient to water-related risks in the future? Using the system models (2) and responses (3) we will explore how the UK FF&V system may respond to water-related disruptions? How do different interventions affect the resilience of different stakeholders, and what are the trade-offs? What "off-farm" (e.g. governance) strategies can be applied to cope with, or adapt to, increasing vulnerability?
Planned Impact
There are five groups of non-academic beneficiaries of this project:
1. Regional water resource managers and regulators in the UK (especially the EA, SEPA, NR Wales and water utilities) and overseas (e.g. SA Dept. for Water and Sanitation) will benefit from an improved understanding of the importance of FF&V production in their region; a rational framework for incorporating resilience into long-term water resource plans for agricultural water management. We have established relationships with those organisations, e.g., CU are presently working with the Water Resources East Anglia project to provide agricultural water demand forecasting capability for strategic water resource planning in E England. EMR is working with Southeast Water to deliver water efficient technologies into commercial soft and tree fruit production. CU is also a member of the UK Water Partnership. Else is a member of Kent County Council's Water Task Group.
2. Growers: The grower-base for the UK FF&V supply includes those businesses growing in the UK; (increasingly) UK businesses growing overseas, often in partnership with local businesses, to supply the UK market out-of-season; and overseas growers. These growers will benefit from increased awareness of the resilience and financial benefits and relevance of "improved" on-farm water management approaches to allow them to make informed strategies for water management in a changing environment. We have existing projects with many of the larger UK-based FF&V companies including those who also grow abroad. Since its inception CU have been leading members of the UK Irrigation Association and we will use its newsletters and events to widen our reach in the UK irrigated FF&V sector. Our relationship with AHDB will widen access the entire GB horticulture and potato grower-base.
3. UK retailers of FF&V and their suppliers (including small retailers as well as the large supermarkets) are increasingly concerned over water-related risks in their supply chains and threats to continuity of supply. They will benefit from a sector-wide view of resilience to reduce risk to supply and maintain their sustainability credentials in the face of increasing exposure to water-related risk. We have worked with the retail sector on water related activities as well as water-risk studies with leading supermarkets.
4. UK consumers of FF&V will benefit from a more secure supply of healthy, nutritious FF&V with reduced impact on global water resources. We envisage that via an enhanced quality assurance and stewardship programme, consumers will be better equipped with knowledge regarding sustainable food and nutrition choices.
5. Food / Water governance and policy makers. Government organisations with responsibility for shaping policy on food and natural resources will have a better understanding of the potential impact of policy decisions on food security and environmental impacts, both at home and overseas. We have a track-record of working with EA, WWF, Defra and DFID.
Academic impact: Our project will develop resilience theory using water-related risks in the fresh fruit and vegetable (FF&V) systems in both UK and South Africa as a case study. "Resilience" is an evolving concept in the context of food systems. It is useful in guiding practical response to environmental challenges but requires clarity of definition. Within such a system, different actors hold different values, aspirations, knowledge, expertise and beliefs about the actions required to achieve 'positive' outcomes. We believe that resilience emerges in unexpected ways when 'home production' in the northern hemisphere is complemented by international production from the southern hemisphere. There are trade-offs between actors, and coping and adaptation responses may produce unexpected, or counter-intuitive, impacts on system wide resilience.
1. Regional water resource managers and regulators in the UK (especially the EA, SEPA, NR Wales and water utilities) and overseas (e.g. SA Dept. for Water and Sanitation) will benefit from an improved understanding of the importance of FF&V production in their region; a rational framework for incorporating resilience into long-term water resource plans for agricultural water management. We have established relationships with those organisations, e.g., CU are presently working with the Water Resources East Anglia project to provide agricultural water demand forecasting capability for strategic water resource planning in E England. EMR is working with Southeast Water to deliver water efficient technologies into commercial soft and tree fruit production. CU is also a member of the UK Water Partnership. Else is a member of Kent County Council's Water Task Group.
2. Growers: The grower-base for the UK FF&V supply includes those businesses growing in the UK; (increasingly) UK businesses growing overseas, often in partnership with local businesses, to supply the UK market out-of-season; and overseas growers. These growers will benefit from increased awareness of the resilience and financial benefits and relevance of "improved" on-farm water management approaches to allow them to make informed strategies for water management in a changing environment. We have existing projects with many of the larger UK-based FF&V companies including those who also grow abroad. Since its inception CU have been leading members of the UK Irrigation Association and we will use its newsletters and events to widen our reach in the UK irrigated FF&V sector. Our relationship with AHDB will widen access the entire GB horticulture and potato grower-base.
3. UK retailers of FF&V and their suppliers (including small retailers as well as the large supermarkets) are increasingly concerned over water-related risks in their supply chains and threats to continuity of supply. They will benefit from a sector-wide view of resilience to reduce risk to supply and maintain their sustainability credentials in the face of increasing exposure to water-related risk. We have worked with the retail sector on water related activities as well as water-risk studies with leading supermarkets.
4. UK consumers of FF&V will benefit from a more secure supply of healthy, nutritious FF&V with reduced impact on global water resources. We envisage that via an enhanced quality assurance and stewardship programme, consumers will be better equipped with knowledge regarding sustainable food and nutrition choices.
5. Food / Water governance and policy makers. Government organisations with responsibility for shaping policy on food and natural resources will have a better understanding of the potential impact of policy decisions on food security and environmental impacts, both at home and overseas. We have a track-record of working with EA, WWF, Defra and DFID.
Academic impact: Our project will develop resilience theory using water-related risks in the fresh fruit and vegetable (FF&V) systems in both UK and South Africa as a case study. "Resilience" is an evolving concept in the context of food systems. It is useful in guiding practical response to environmental challenges but requires clarity of definition. Within such a system, different actors hold different values, aspirations, knowledge, expertise and beliefs about the actions required to achieve 'positive' outcomes. We believe that resilience emerges in unexpected ways when 'home production' in the northern hemisphere is complemented by international production from the southern hemisphere. There are trade-offs between actors, and coping and adaptation responses may produce unexpected, or counter-intuitive, impacts on system wide resilience.
Organisations
- Cranfield University (Lead Research Organisation)
- Economic and Social Research Council (Co-funder)
- Scottish Government (Co-funder)
- Natural Environment Research Council (Co-funder)
- Delta T Devices Ltd (Collaboration)
- Plantworks Ltd UK (Collaboration)
- Environmental Monitoring Solutions Ltd (Collaboration)
- Weatherquest Ltd (Collaboration)
- Berry Gardens Growers Limited (Collaboration)
- Netafim UK Ltd (Collaboration)
- Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (Project Partner)
Publications
Comerford K
(2020)
Proceedings of a Workshop on Characterizing and Defining the Social and Economic Domains of Sustainable Diets
in Sustainability
Drewnowski A
(2020)
Toward Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems.
in Current developments in nutrition
Hansen AR
(2020)
Negotiating food systems resilience.
in Nature food
Hess T
(2021)
How can we avoid eating ourselves out of water?
in Nature Food
Hess T
(2018)
The exposure of a fresh fruit and vegetable supply chain to global water-related risks
in Water International
Ingram J
(2020)
Nutrition security is more than food security
in Nature Food
Lankford B
(2023)
Irrigation area, efficiency and water storage mediate the drought resilience of irrigated agriculture in a semi-arid catchment.
in The Science of the total environment
Lankford B
(2020)
Rapid Games Designing; Constructing a Dynamic Metaphor to Explore Complex Systems and Abstract Concepts
in Sustainability
Rey Vicario, D.
(2023)
Synergies and trade-offs in drought resilience within a multi-level food supply chain
in Regional Environmental Change
Sutcliffe C
(2021)
Managing irrigation under pressure: How supply chain demands and environmental objectives drive imbalance in agricultural resilience to water shortages
in Agricultural Water Management
Vicario D
(2023)
Synergies and trade-offs in drought resilience within a multi-level UK food supply chain
in Regional Environmental Change
Zurek M
(2022)
Food System Resilience: Concepts, Issues, and Challenges
in Annual Review of Environment and Resources
Zurek M
(2020)
Increasing Resilience of the UK Fresh Fruit and Vegetable System to Water-Related Risks
in Sustainability
| Description | We have combined estimates of the UK's supply of fresh fruit and vegetables (1996 - 2015) with estimates of water requirements and water scarcity in producing countries, to identify where the supply is exposed to physical, regulatory and reputational water risks and how this has changed over time. Some 76% of the freshwater consumed in the supply of fresh fruit and vegetables to the UK is withdrawn overseas. The supply chain is particularly exposed to water risks in Spain, Egypt, South Africa, Chile, Morocco, Israel and Peru. Exposure has increased over time. |
| Exploitation Route | Retailers evaluating their value chain in order to manage water-related risks. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment |
| Description | Retailers have evaluated water-related risks in their fresh fruit and vegetable value chains. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2018 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment |
| Impact Types | Economic |
| Description | Supporting transformative adaptation and building equitable resilience to drought for sustainable development |
| Amount | £942,398 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ES/T003006/1 |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2019 |
| End | 10/2022 |
| Title | On-demand precision irrigation technologies help to deliver new low-input growing systems for fresh produce |
| Description | Sensors that measure temperature-corrected substrate volumetric moisture content (VMC) are connected to an Advanced Data Logger and Controller and are used to trach changes in VMC resulting from transpirational water loss. Outputs from up to nine sensors are averaged and used to trigger irrigation events automatically once an average substrate VMC reaches a predetermined value. Using this approach, substrate VMCs can be maintained within +/- 0.5% of upper and lower irrigation set points, and telemetry means that all data is available to view in a Cloud Report in real time. This approach helps to maintain the optimum range of substrate VMC throughout cropping thereby ensuring an efficient use of water and fertilizers, a consistent high yield of good quality fresh produce and also helps to reduce losses of water and fertilizers to land, air and water. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The tools and technologies for precision irrigation (PI) developed in this project are now used routinely in many projects carried out in the Crop Science and Production Systems Department at NIAB EMR. These project are funded via several funding bodies including the BBSRC, Innovate UK Smart scheme, the IUK Agri-Tech scheme, the AHDB, the Coca-Cola Foundation and in directly commissioned research from UK agri-businesses. These PI technologies are used routinely to match plant and crop water demand with supply under varying evaporative demands, different cropping stages and under different light environments, and in several different horticultural sectors including soft fruit, protected ornamentals and field vegetables, in the UK, in southern Spain and in sub-Saharan Africa. The PI technology is also being integrated with solutions to estimate concentrations of Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium in the rhizosphere including real-time sensors and a Fuzzy Logic Inference System, and with more accurate N-dosing rigs to better target N applications and reduce emissions to land, air and water. |
| Description | IUK 102124 BerryDSS |
| Organisation | Berry Gardens Growers Limited |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIAB EMR is the leading perennial fruit crop research organisation in the UK and has key expertise in using detailed scientific understanding of plant and crop responses to environmental variables to develop accurate models of water use and yield forecasting for UK horticultural crops. NIAB EMR provided the underpinning science, facilities and equipment needed to: 1) test the robustness of the relationship between rate of change of substrate drying and changes in VPD; 2) develop precision fertigation formulations for proprietary varieties; 3) develop and test crop yield prediction models. Dr Else has experience and expertise in the scientific management of linked RTO-industry projects. |
| Collaborator Contribution | BerryGardens Growers Ltd is the UK's leading berry and stone fruit production and marketing group with sales in 2017 of £325 million, a market share in excess of 30% and a year-round business supplying most of Britain's top retailers. BGG co-ordinated partners' technical, financial and reporting inputs to ensure that all project milestones were met in full. BGG hosted the experimental trials on their member's farms in 2017 and 2018. Delta T Devices Ltd currently design, manufacture (in the UK) and sell environmental science instrumentation in over 80 countries and many products are utilised by researchers to investigate the effects of climate change and improve water and fertigation resource management. Weatherquest Ltd provides forecast services to agri-businesses and c. 500 farms. Integrating weather forecast information into soft fruit production management systems for the protection of resources, reduction of input costs, and management of disease and optimisation of crop scheduling is needed and achievable. Netafim UK Ltd are a non-grant seeking partner with key expertise in crop management technology and is the leading support company for precision control systems in the UK. Sub-contracts to NIAB EMR: Prof. Hadley (University of Reading) provided advice and guidance on using environmental metrics to predict cropping. The Technology Research Centre (TRC), did not provide the BerryVision System in good time and so we were unable to compare the accuracy with which the BerryVision system could predict ripening dates with the outputs from the variety-specific thermal time models developed in the project. |
| Impact | The project outcomes include: 1) An improved ability to match irrigation demand with supply during changeable weather using the relationship between rate of substrate drying and VPD to improve water and nutrient use efficiencies, and crop quality; 2) Bespoke fertiliser recipes that can be used in precision fertigation regimes tooptimise Class 1 yields, fruit quality and fertiliser use efficiency for proprietary varieties; 3) New variety-specific thermal time models to improve the accuracy of crop yield and harvesting forecasts to assure higher pricing and improved grower margins; 4) The use of weather probability forecasting to predict the aerial environment within polytunnels and to provide cummulative grower degree hour (GDH) data to inform and improve the thermal time models. 5) A BerryDSS that incorporates and enhances an existing commercial irrigation scheduling service (the PIP) to help growers to improve the economic, environmental and social sustainability of their businesses. Disciplines include: Plant physiology, soft fruit agronomy, mathematical modelling, meteorology, data science, hardware and software engineering |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | IUK 102124 BerryDSS |
| Organisation | Delta T Devices Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIAB EMR is the leading perennial fruit crop research organisation in the UK and has key expertise in using detailed scientific understanding of plant and crop responses to environmental variables to develop accurate models of water use and yield forecasting for UK horticultural crops. NIAB EMR provided the underpinning science, facilities and equipment needed to: 1) test the robustness of the relationship between rate of change of substrate drying and changes in VPD; 2) develop precision fertigation formulations for proprietary varieties; 3) develop and test crop yield prediction models. Dr Else has experience and expertise in the scientific management of linked RTO-industry projects. |
| Collaborator Contribution | BerryGardens Growers Ltd is the UK's leading berry and stone fruit production and marketing group with sales in 2017 of £325 million, a market share in excess of 30% and a year-round business supplying most of Britain's top retailers. BGG co-ordinated partners' technical, financial and reporting inputs to ensure that all project milestones were met in full. BGG hosted the experimental trials on their member's farms in 2017 and 2018. Delta T Devices Ltd currently design, manufacture (in the UK) and sell environmental science instrumentation in over 80 countries and many products are utilised by researchers to investigate the effects of climate change and improve water and fertigation resource management. Weatherquest Ltd provides forecast services to agri-businesses and c. 500 farms. Integrating weather forecast information into soft fruit production management systems for the protection of resources, reduction of input costs, and management of disease and optimisation of crop scheduling is needed and achievable. Netafim UK Ltd are a non-grant seeking partner with key expertise in crop management technology and is the leading support company for precision control systems in the UK. Sub-contracts to NIAB EMR: Prof. Hadley (University of Reading) provided advice and guidance on using environmental metrics to predict cropping. The Technology Research Centre (TRC), did not provide the BerryVision System in good time and so we were unable to compare the accuracy with which the BerryVision system could predict ripening dates with the outputs from the variety-specific thermal time models developed in the project. |
| Impact | The project outcomes include: 1) An improved ability to match irrigation demand with supply during changeable weather using the relationship between rate of substrate drying and VPD to improve water and nutrient use efficiencies, and crop quality; 2) Bespoke fertiliser recipes that can be used in precision fertigation regimes tooptimise Class 1 yields, fruit quality and fertiliser use efficiency for proprietary varieties; 3) New variety-specific thermal time models to improve the accuracy of crop yield and harvesting forecasts to assure higher pricing and improved grower margins; 4) The use of weather probability forecasting to predict the aerial environment within polytunnels and to provide cummulative grower degree hour (GDH) data to inform and improve the thermal time models. 5) A BerryDSS that incorporates and enhances an existing commercial irrigation scheduling service (the PIP) to help growers to improve the economic, environmental and social sustainability of their businesses. Disciplines include: Plant physiology, soft fruit agronomy, mathematical modelling, meteorology, data science, hardware and software engineering |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | IUK 102124 BerryDSS |
| Organisation | Netafim UK Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIAB EMR is the leading perennial fruit crop research organisation in the UK and has key expertise in using detailed scientific understanding of plant and crop responses to environmental variables to develop accurate models of water use and yield forecasting for UK horticultural crops. NIAB EMR provided the underpinning science, facilities and equipment needed to: 1) test the robustness of the relationship between rate of change of substrate drying and changes in VPD; 2) develop precision fertigation formulations for proprietary varieties; 3) develop and test crop yield prediction models. Dr Else has experience and expertise in the scientific management of linked RTO-industry projects. |
| Collaborator Contribution | BerryGardens Growers Ltd is the UK's leading berry and stone fruit production and marketing group with sales in 2017 of £325 million, a market share in excess of 30% and a year-round business supplying most of Britain's top retailers. BGG co-ordinated partners' technical, financial and reporting inputs to ensure that all project milestones were met in full. BGG hosted the experimental trials on their member's farms in 2017 and 2018. Delta T Devices Ltd currently design, manufacture (in the UK) and sell environmental science instrumentation in over 80 countries and many products are utilised by researchers to investigate the effects of climate change and improve water and fertigation resource management. Weatherquest Ltd provides forecast services to agri-businesses and c. 500 farms. Integrating weather forecast information into soft fruit production management systems for the protection of resources, reduction of input costs, and management of disease and optimisation of crop scheduling is needed and achievable. Netafim UK Ltd are a non-grant seeking partner with key expertise in crop management technology and is the leading support company for precision control systems in the UK. Sub-contracts to NIAB EMR: Prof. Hadley (University of Reading) provided advice and guidance on using environmental metrics to predict cropping. The Technology Research Centre (TRC), did not provide the BerryVision System in good time and so we were unable to compare the accuracy with which the BerryVision system could predict ripening dates with the outputs from the variety-specific thermal time models developed in the project. |
| Impact | The project outcomes include: 1) An improved ability to match irrigation demand with supply during changeable weather using the relationship between rate of substrate drying and VPD to improve water and nutrient use efficiencies, and crop quality; 2) Bespoke fertiliser recipes that can be used in precision fertigation regimes tooptimise Class 1 yields, fruit quality and fertiliser use efficiency for proprietary varieties; 3) New variety-specific thermal time models to improve the accuracy of crop yield and harvesting forecasts to assure higher pricing and improved grower margins; 4) The use of weather probability forecasting to predict the aerial environment within polytunnels and to provide cummulative grower degree hour (GDH) data to inform and improve the thermal time models. 5) A BerryDSS that incorporates and enhances an existing commercial irrigation scheduling service (the PIP) to help growers to improve the economic, environmental and social sustainability of their businesses. Disciplines include: Plant physiology, soft fruit agronomy, mathematical modelling, meteorology, data science, hardware and software engineering |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | IUK 102124 BerryDSS |
| Organisation | Weatherquest Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIAB EMR is the leading perennial fruit crop research organisation in the UK and has key expertise in using detailed scientific understanding of plant and crop responses to environmental variables to develop accurate models of water use and yield forecasting for UK horticultural crops. NIAB EMR provided the underpinning science, facilities and equipment needed to: 1) test the robustness of the relationship between rate of change of substrate drying and changes in VPD; 2) develop precision fertigation formulations for proprietary varieties; 3) develop and test crop yield prediction models. Dr Else has experience and expertise in the scientific management of linked RTO-industry projects. |
| Collaborator Contribution | BerryGardens Growers Ltd is the UK's leading berry and stone fruit production and marketing group with sales in 2017 of £325 million, a market share in excess of 30% and a year-round business supplying most of Britain's top retailers. BGG co-ordinated partners' technical, financial and reporting inputs to ensure that all project milestones were met in full. BGG hosted the experimental trials on their member's farms in 2017 and 2018. Delta T Devices Ltd currently design, manufacture (in the UK) and sell environmental science instrumentation in over 80 countries and many products are utilised by researchers to investigate the effects of climate change and improve water and fertigation resource management. Weatherquest Ltd provides forecast services to agri-businesses and c. 500 farms. Integrating weather forecast information into soft fruit production management systems for the protection of resources, reduction of input costs, and management of disease and optimisation of crop scheduling is needed and achievable. Netafim UK Ltd are a non-grant seeking partner with key expertise in crop management technology and is the leading support company for precision control systems in the UK. Sub-contracts to NIAB EMR: Prof. Hadley (University of Reading) provided advice and guidance on using environmental metrics to predict cropping. The Technology Research Centre (TRC), did not provide the BerryVision System in good time and so we were unable to compare the accuracy with which the BerryVision system could predict ripening dates with the outputs from the variety-specific thermal time models developed in the project. |
| Impact | The project outcomes include: 1) An improved ability to match irrigation demand with supply during changeable weather using the relationship between rate of substrate drying and VPD to improve water and nutrient use efficiencies, and crop quality; 2) Bespoke fertiliser recipes that can be used in precision fertigation regimes tooptimise Class 1 yields, fruit quality and fertiliser use efficiency for proprietary varieties; 3) New variety-specific thermal time models to improve the accuracy of crop yield and harvesting forecasts to assure higher pricing and improved grower margins; 4) The use of weather probability forecasting to predict the aerial environment within polytunnels and to provide cummulative grower degree hour (GDH) data to inform and improve the thermal time models. 5) A BerryDSS that incorporates and enhances an existing commercial irrigation scheduling service (the PIP) to help growers to improve the economic, environmental and social sustainability of their businesses. Disciplines include: Plant physiology, soft fruit agronomy, mathematical modelling, meteorology, data science, hardware and software engineering |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | RaspResil 2017-2021 |
| Organisation | Berry Gardens Growers Limited |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Dr Else's team has expertise in developing and deploying scientifically-derived guidelines to improve resource acquisition and use efficiency, increase crop yields and quality and enhance resilience to environmental stresses. We are investigating the potential of using AMF to improve resource acquisition and stress resilience, developing Transient Deficit Irrigation (TDI) as a tool to control cane vigour without reducing yields, thereby reducing labour and production costs, using stress pre-conditioning to improve crop resilience to abiotic and biotic stresses, and delivering automated, real-time precision fertigation control into commercial production using an virtual sensor platform integrated with the Decision Support System (DSS) being developed in IUK 102124. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Berry Gardens Growers Ltd (BGG) is the UK's leading berry and stone fruit production and marketing group with sales in 2016 of £329 million, a market share in excess of 30% and a year-round business supplying Britain's top retailers. BGG will co-ordinate partners' technical, financial and reporting inputs to ensure that all project milestones are met in full and will host the experimental trials on four of their member's farms. Environmental Monitoring Solutions (EMS) is at the forefront of nutrient measurement technologies and is project lead in IUK 101824; and the company is aware of the state-of-the-art and applicability of current technologies for the monitoring of NO3 and PO4. Plantworks Ltd (PW) is a leading horticultural firm that specialises in biologically active solutions and is project lead in IUK 101920. The company has core competencies in microbiology, administration, marketing, packaging, engineering and logistics, and is the only UK producer of AMF with an annual output of 100 tonnes sold into farming and gardening. PW has supported contemporary research in the field of AMF through collaborations and product supply for UK universities as well as advising many large companies on the use of biological active products, and has access to 6000 sq. ft of glasshouse and 5000 sq. feet of laboratory and production area. Netafim UK Ltd (NUK) is a non-grant seeking partner with key expertise in crop management technology and is the leading support company for precision control systems in the UK. |
| Impact | Recommendations to the BGG Agronomy Team and BGG commercial growers include: The use of transient wilting to control cane vigour is not recommended The effects on cane vigour are variable Class 1 yields will be reduced Reducing Nitrogen and water inputs is a better strategy to control cane vigour Transient wilting cannot be used a pre-conditioning treatment to improve resilience to subsequent coir drying episodes Legacy effects of unintended coir drying events could be significant, with photosynthesis remaining suppressed for 2-4 weeks Negative effects on berry size, dry matter production, quality (colour reversion) are likely Irrigation on commercial plantings must be optimised to avoid transient coir drying episodes and the resulting shoot water deficits to avoid stress legacy effects and to ensure high yields of quality berries. The use of 4 L pots for commercial raspberry crops is likely to result in unplanned stress episodes and subsequent legacy effects, and is therefore not recommended. Inoculating root systems with AMF does not bring measurable benefits Inoculation with either a consortium of AMF species or a single AMF species did not improve resource acquisition under a sub-optimal fertigation regime Class 1 yield penalties under sub-optimal fertigation regimes were not ameliorated by inoculation with AMF Class 1 yields were sometimes reduced in AMF-treated Maravilla The potential to reduce Nitrogen inputs to limit cane vigour without affecting berry yields and quality is being investigated on IUK 51135 where N-demand models, precision N dosing, and real-time NPK sensors are being integrated to better target water, and N inputs. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | RaspResil 2017-2021 |
| Organisation | Environmental Monitoring Solutions Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Dr Else's team has expertise in developing and deploying scientifically-derived guidelines to improve resource acquisition and use efficiency, increase crop yields and quality and enhance resilience to environmental stresses. We are investigating the potential of using AMF to improve resource acquisition and stress resilience, developing Transient Deficit Irrigation (TDI) as a tool to control cane vigour without reducing yields, thereby reducing labour and production costs, using stress pre-conditioning to improve crop resilience to abiotic and biotic stresses, and delivering automated, real-time precision fertigation control into commercial production using an virtual sensor platform integrated with the Decision Support System (DSS) being developed in IUK 102124. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Berry Gardens Growers Ltd (BGG) is the UK's leading berry and stone fruit production and marketing group with sales in 2016 of £329 million, a market share in excess of 30% and a year-round business supplying Britain's top retailers. BGG will co-ordinate partners' technical, financial and reporting inputs to ensure that all project milestones are met in full and will host the experimental trials on four of their member's farms. Environmental Monitoring Solutions (EMS) is at the forefront of nutrient measurement technologies and is project lead in IUK 101824; and the company is aware of the state-of-the-art and applicability of current technologies for the monitoring of NO3 and PO4. Plantworks Ltd (PW) is a leading horticultural firm that specialises in biologically active solutions and is project lead in IUK 101920. The company has core competencies in microbiology, administration, marketing, packaging, engineering and logistics, and is the only UK producer of AMF with an annual output of 100 tonnes sold into farming and gardening. PW has supported contemporary research in the field of AMF through collaborations and product supply for UK universities as well as advising many large companies on the use of biological active products, and has access to 6000 sq. ft of glasshouse and 5000 sq. feet of laboratory and production area. Netafim UK Ltd (NUK) is a non-grant seeking partner with key expertise in crop management technology and is the leading support company for precision control systems in the UK. |
| Impact | Recommendations to the BGG Agronomy Team and BGG commercial growers include: The use of transient wilting to control cane vigour is not recommended The effects on cane vigour are variable Class 1 yields will be reduced Reducing Nitrogen and water inputs is a better strategy to control cane vigour Transient wilting cannot be used a pre-conditioning treatment to improve resilience to subsequent coir drying episodes Legacy effects of unintended coir drying events could be significant, with photosynthesis remaining suppressed for 2-4 weeks Negative effects on berry size, dry matter production, quality (colour reversion) are likely Irrigation on commercial plantings must be optimised to avoid transient coir drying episodes and the resulting shoot water deficits to avoid stress legacy effects and to ensure high yields of quality berries. The use of 4 L pots for commercial raspberry crops is likely to result in unplanned stress episodes and subsequent legacy effects, and is therefore not recommended. Inoculating root systems with AMF does not bring measurable benefits Inoculation with either a consortium of AMF species or a single AMF species did not improve resource acquisition under a sub-optimal fertigation regime Class 1 yield penalties under sub-optimal fertigation regimes were not ameliorated by inoculation with AMF Class 1 yields were sometimes reduced in AMF-treated Maravilla The potential to reduce Nitrogen inputs to limit cane vigour without affecting berry yields and quality is being investigated on IUK 51135 where N-demand models, precision N dosing, and real-time NPK sensors are being integrated to better target water, and N inputs. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | RaspResil 2017-2021 |
| Organisation | Plantworks Ltd UK |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Dr Else's team has expertise in developing and deploying scientifically-derived guidelines to improve resource acquisition and use efficiency, increase crop yields and quality and enhance resilience to environmental stresses. We are investigating the potential of using AMF to improve resource acquisition and stress resilience, developing Transient Deficit Irrigation (TDI) as a tool to control cane vigour without reducing yields, thereby reducing labour and production costs, using stress pre-conditioning to improve crop resilience to abiotic and biotic stresses, and delivering automated, real-time precision fertigation control into commercial production using an virtual sensor platform integrated with the Decision Support System (DSS) being developed in IUK 102124. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Berry Gardens Growers Ltd (BGG) is the UK's leading berry and stone fruit production and marketing group with sales in 2016 of £329 million, a market share in excess of 30% and a year-round business supplying Britain's top retailers. BGG will co-ordinate partners' technical, financial and reporting inputs to ensure that all project milestones are met in full and will host the experimental trials on four of their member's farms. Environmental Monitoring Solutions (EMS) is at the forefront of nutrient measurement technologies and is project lead in IUK 101824; and the company is aware of the state-of-the-art and applicability of current technologies for the monitoring of NO3 and PO4. Plantworks Ltd (PW) is a leading horticultural firm that specialises in biologically active solutions and is project lead in IUK 101920. The company has core competencies in microbiology, administration, marketing, packaging, engineering and logistics, and is the only UK producer of AMF with an annual output of 100 tonnes sold into farming and gardening. PW has supported contemporary research in the field of AMF through collaborations and product supply for UK universities as well as advising many large companies on the use of biological active products, and has access to 6000 sq. ft of glasshouse and 5000 sq. feet of laboratory and production area. Netafim UK Ltd (NUK) is a non-grant seeking partner with key expertise in crop management technology and is the leading support company for precision control systems in the UK. |
| Impact | Recommendations to the BGG Agronomy Team and BGG commercial growers include: The use of transient wilting to control cane vigour is not recommended The effects on cane vigour are variable Class 1 yields will be reduced Reducing Nitrogen and water inputs is a better strategy to control cane vigour Transient wilting cannot be used a pre-conditioning treatment to improve resilience to subsequent coir drying episodes Legacy effects of unintended coir drying events could be significant, with photosynthesis remaining suppressed for 2-4 weeks Negative effects on berry size, dry matter production, quality (colour reversion) are likely Irrigation on commercial plantings must be optimised to avoid transient coir drying episodes and the resulting shoot water deficits to avoid stress legacy effects and to ensure high yields of quality berries. The use of 4 L pots for commercial raspberry crops is likely to result in unplanned stress episodes and subsequent legacy effects, and is therefore not recommended. Inoculating root systems with AMF does not bring measurable benefits Inoculation with either a consortium of AMF species or a single AMF species did not improve resource acquisition under a sub-optimal fertigation regime Class 1 yield penalties under sub-optimal fertigation regimes were not ameliorated by inoculation with AMF Class 1 yields were sometimes reduced in AMF-treated Maravilla The potential to reduce Nitrogen inputs to limit cane vigour without affecting berry yields and quality is being investigated on IUK 51135 where N-demand models, precision N dosing, and real-time NPK sensors are being integrated to better target water, and N inputs. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Title | Fruit and Veg vs. the Future game |
| Description | Fruit and Veg. vs. the Future is a hybrid board / role-play game about water risks in the UK fresh fruit and vegetable system, aimed at industry stakeholders. The game allows players to put together fruit and vegetable systems and pit them against different future scenarios, to see who the winners and losers are and how we can increase the resilience of the overall supply chain to water related risks. |
| Type Of Technology | Physical Model/Kit |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Impact | This game has been used with workshops of grower, suppliers and retailers to evaluate system-level resilience to water related risks. |
| URL | https://doi.org/10.17862/cranfield.rd.9677240.v1 |
| Description | "What do healthier diets mean for the water scarcity footprint of the UK fruit and veg system?" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This article discussed water use in the production of the UK's fruit and vegetables, in the context of nationally low average current consumption levels, and with reference to the implications for water should potential health benefits as a drive increasing consumption in the future. The blog was viewed 204 times within two weeks and was liked 14 times from social media, and 4 times on the Cranfield website where it is hosted. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://blogs.cranfield.ac.uk/category/water/ |
| Description | Article in Eurofruit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Report on fruit growers workshop in Stellenbosch, S Africa, published in Eurofruit entitled "South Africa considers water future" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://www.fruitnet.com/eurofruit/article/176050/south-africa-considers-water-future |
| Description | Article in The Grocer |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Article by Chloe Sutcliffe in The Grocer on 'Water scarcity means there's no such thing as 'guilt-free' fruit & veg' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/home/topics/environment/water-scarcity-means-theres-no-such-thing-as-gui... |
| Description | BBC 3 Counties Radio interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Prof. Tim Hess gave an interview with BBC Three Counties Radio on the impacts of the summer 2018 drought on farming in the UK. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06btkh4 |
| Description | BBC Farming Today interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Prof. Tim Hess gave an interview with BBC Farming Today on the impacts of the summer 2018 drought on farming in the UK. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | BBC Radio 4 Farming Today interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | BBC Radio 4 Farming Today ran a one week series on 'Water management challenges in UK agriculture". Jerry Knox was invited by the programme editor to help identify the key focus topics that should be addressed. Jerry then provided the opening interview on Mon morning to help set out the key water management challenges drawing on specific irrigation aspects conducted in this research project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | BBC Three Counties Radio interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interview with BBC Three Counties Radio (17/01/2019) on the water impact of imported fresh fruit and vegetables. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06vxtt5 |
| Description | BBSRC GFS website blog post |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Blog post on BBRSC web site regarding the use of 'serious games' as a method of inquiry. Unpack a game, unpack the world? Exploring the future of South African fruit with game design. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.foodsecurity.ac.uk/blog/unpack-a-game-unpack-the-world-exploring-the-future-of-south-afr... |
| Description | Blog on "National water governance: A bigger deal than drought?" with application to South Africa |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A blog written by Dr Sandile Hadebe and Mr Jon McCosh on 16th May 2018 from the Institute of Natural Resources (INR) in South Africa regarding water governance in that country. The conclusion reads as: Overall, fruit production in South Africa has shown remarkable resilience to the ongoing DWS governance failure, mainly through reorganized governance at localised levels. National water governance has far reaching consequences, not only on local production, but also on international relations and the resilience of fresh fruit food systems - South Africa is the second largest supplier of fresh fruits to the UK, for example, and accounts for 9% of fruit imports. The economic impact of losing that market share would be substantial. Our understanding is that improvements in DWS governance would not only improve national water security and resilience of fruit production to periodic droughts, and water quality risks, but also sustain access to critical export markets. This reminds us that the most important water threat may not be physical threats such as scarcity, quality or other weather related phenomenon, but how we govern water resources for sustainable and productive use - not just for South Africa, but the world at large. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://www.watersecuritynetwork.org/national-water-governance-a-bigger-deal-than-drought/ |
| Description | Co-op suppliers workshop - Cranfield 18 June 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Playing the 'Fruit & Veg v The Future' game with staff from a retailer and suppliers of imported fruits. Discussion around water resilience and the role of the supply chain. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Expert group meeting at Aspen Global Change Institute (Colorado, USA) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A workshop organized by the Aspen Global Change Institute and hosted at the Keystone Policy Center (USA) July 30 - August 3, 2018, entitled "Innovating global fruit and vegetable food systems to help bring sustainable nutrition security". The workshop aimed to identify challenges and opportunities for existing and future F&V food systems. Prioritize among the leverage points for change and knowledge gaps. Outline approaches (changes in the food system itself & research needs) to sustainably provide healthy, nutritious food to a growing, more urban world population, based on the principles of diversity, equity & inclusion. The output was a position paper on needed innovations in F&V food systems. At the conclusion of the workshop, the gathered participants drafted the "Aspen/Keystone Declaration", which announces the formation of a new "Community of Practice," whose area of work is described in this position paper. The need for this work is based on a series of premises discussed in detail at the workshop and summarized herein. Increased intake of fruits and vegetables (F&V) is recommended for most populations across the globe. However, the current state of global and regional food systems is such that both F&V availability, the production required to sustain them, and consumer food choices are severely deficient to meet this need. Given the critical state of public health and nutrition worldwide, as well as the fragility of the ecological systems and resources on which they rely, there is a great need for research, investment, and innovation in F&V systems to nourish our global population. Here, we review the challenges that must be addressed in order to expand production and consumption of F&V sustainably and on a global scale. To surmount these challenges, opportunities are presented for growth and innovation in F&V systems. The paper is organized into five sections based on primary points of intervention in global F&V systems: (1) research and development, (2) policy agenda and investment, (3) production (farmers, farming practices, and supply), (4) consumption (availability, access, and demand), and (5) sustainable & equitable systems and supply chains. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.agci.org/lib/18s3/sustainable-and-equitable-increases-fruit-and-vegetable-productivity-a... |
| Description | FAO-IPCC Expert Meeting on Climate Change, Land Use and Food Security |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | One hundred scientists, economists, and policy experts participated at this Expert Meeting to engage in a high level, globally oriented, forward-looking and multi-disciplinary scoping and discussion of the most critical issues facing land use and food security under climate change. The 3-day Expert Meeting was structured around a comprehensive review of the current knowledge and related issues that link climate change and land use and food systems. The Expert Meeting started with the review of the current scientific understanding of the impacts of climate on land and food systems, distinguishing clearly between climate-induced and human-directed drivers. The Expert Meeting then addresses the issues around mitigation and adaptation options for agriculture and other land use systems and the implications for food security both regarding synergies and trade-offs. Food security was addressed in broadest terms, going beyond food production, and covering the other dimensions as defined by FAO. The Expert Meeting also has a strong policy focus and discussed the role of socio-economic drivers and the inevitable trade-offs inherent among possible technical solutions required to meet the climate mitigation goals and safeguard food security. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Fruit & vegetables v the future - gaming workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The workshop aimed to raise awareness of the research project and to stimulate a discussion of how the UK soft fruit supply chain is resilient to water-related risks. Following a presentation, participants played the "Fruit & vegetables v the future" game and discussed the implications for their sector. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Fruit Focus 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | NIAB EMR's research work in precision growing of soft fruit crops was showcased in the Water Efficient Technologies (WET) Centre during Fruit Focus 2017. The WET Centre was officially opened by the Rt Hon. George Eustice, Minister of State at DEFRA. Four formal tours were held throughout the day, and three interviews were given by NIAB EMR staff for local television. Project outputs from IUK 101623, 102144 and 102640 were presented at the fruit Focus Forum in July 2018, and demonstrated in the WET Centre during x4 sessions during Fruit Focus 2019. Project outputs from IUK 101623, 102144 and 102640 were demonstrated in the WET Centre during x4 sessions during Fruit Focus 2019. Outputs from these research projects were also presented at the on-line Fruit Focus event in 2020. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018,2019,2020 |
| URL | https://www.thewetcentre.com |
| Description | Global Food Security research programme seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentations and discussions with policy makers from Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Food Standards Agency, Public Health England, Department for International Development and Cabinet Office. An engaging discussion took place after the presentations and a number of points were raised: The importance of genuinely interdisciplinary research to help bring about new insights and change for all the actors in the food system - Government, industry, NGOs and citizens; How the research programme can help inform future UK trade policy post-Brexit; The opportunities that the programme team can provide for civil servants to engage in the programme, through individual projects, and with the coordination team to help shape the synthesis of research to inform future policy and practice; The importance of engagement with departments interested in the global food system, e.g. DfID, FCO; Raising awareness of dependence of UK fresh fruit and vegetable supply on water resources in dry countries; and Finding ways for the programme to engage with the Department for Education to inform children and young people about food systems, and how this can shape future consumer behaviour. This workshop was the first of what will become a regular pattern for dialogue with the UK Government over the next three years. The programme coordination team also as presented to the Scottish Government in November 2017, and plans to present to the Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Assembly in spring 2018. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Groot Letaba Catchment stakeholder workshop - June 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Final stakeholder feedback workshop with Growers (avocado, citrus), Grower Associations, Government (Department of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Reform, South Africa National Parks), Industry advisors, Water Users Association. The workshop was used to share project results, sense-check data collected in the project, consider the framing of resilience in the context of water management, test the relationship between water efficiency and resilience, and compare learnings with the parallel UK case study. Stakeholders also played the "Fruit & Veg v The Future Game". Stakeholders demonstrated an increased understanding of resilience in farm activities and a wider understanding of farm and catchment-scale resilience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Industry and stakeholder visits to the WET Centre at NIAB EMR 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | The Water Efficient Technologies (WET) Centre Following the completion of IUK 101623, NIAB EMR secured funding from industry partners to establish and run the WET Centre at NIAB EM. Our original business partners include Berry Gardens Growers Ltd, Cocogreen Ltd, Delta-T Devices Ltd, Netafim UK Ltd, New Leaf Irrigation Ltd. Start-up funding was also provided by Kent County Council and Southeast Water. Additional partners joining in 2018/2019 include H.L. Hutchinsons Ltd, the AHDB and Weatherquest Ltd. The primary aim of the WET Centre is to create and maintain a UK Centre of Excellence, to support the commercialisation and sales of an integrated portfolio of precision irrigation and other leading-edge technologies for the horticultural sector. To achieve this, the Centre is demonstrating to horticultural growers how adoption of these "Best Practice" technologies can help them to optimise their irrigation productivity and financial returns. It also provides them with the necessary support and training required for successful uptake and operation. A key target is to demonstrate on a commercial scale that by combining Precision Irrigation with other leading technologies in a key crop such as protected substrate-grown strawberry, growers can achieve high yields of flavoursome phytonutritious Class 1 fruit whilst using resources more efficiently. Visitors to the WET Centre in 2017 included the Berry Gardens Grower Research Awards Panel, Kent County Council, members of the SAI platform, and the Ferdonana project team. NIAB EMR's research on linking scientific knowledge of plant and crop physiology with innovative technologies to improve the precision, resource use efficiency and productivity of UK soft fruit production was presented and discussed. Visitors to the WET Centre in 2018 included x25 visitors for the LEAF Innovation Centre Launch, the CEO and the KE Technical Manager of the AHDB, the AHDB Comms team, Kent County Council, HL Hutchinson Ltd, Duard Cloete of In2Food, the BerryDSS Project Consortium, ~120 visitors in x4 Demonstrations at Fruit Focus, a group of visiting Swedish Agronomists, and international clients of Netafim UK Ltd and CocoGreen Ltd. Visitors to the WET Centre in 2019 included: BGG and Driscoll's, 16 April 2019; Lord Selborne, Nigel Kirby, Tina Barsby, 17 April 2019; WET Centre Consortium visit, 30 April 2019; Holistic Water for Horticulture Launch event, 1 May 2019; Dutch soft fruit growers 20 May 2019; NIAB Board of Directors, 23 May 2019; BG M&S Science Day, 12 June 2019; Star Produce Visit, 19 June 2019; NIAB EMR Innovations Day, 21 June 2019; Kent Lieutenancy visit, 28 June 2019; ~130 visitors in x4 Demonstrations and throughout Fruit Focus 2019, visit by the GCRF SASSA-SAI Consortium, 22 July 2019; visit by SAI Platform / Coca-Cola Foundation 2 consortium and Spanish Soft fruit Growers, 29 July 2019; the AHDB Agronomists' Day, 11 September 2019; H.L. Hutchinson's Agronomists, 9 September 2019; Chinese Delegations 7 November and 13 November 2019. In-person visits in 2020 were limited due to the Covid-19 pandemic but the work being carried out at the WET Centre resulting from various IUK-funded projects was demonstrated to Dr Katrina Hayter, Industrial Challenge Strategy Director, during a socially-distanced visit to NIAB EMR on 29 July 2020. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018,2019 |
| URL | https://www.thewetcentre.com |
| Description | Juice Summit 2017 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Presentation on water risks in fresh fruit supply chains to professionals in the soft drink sector. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.juicesummit.org/ |
| Description | Letaba Workshop for Resilience Games Design, June 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The objectives of the workshop were to give farmers, representatives and buyers within the fruit industry and those with interests in water resources, an opportunity to explore recent experiences and future scenarios via creative designing of games related to changing water scarcity, irrigation management and catchment resilience. The workshop also acted as a capacity development activity, through which stakeholders could gain a deeper, systemic understanding of the Fresh Fruit Sector, be able to articulate desirable future visions for the sector, and consider future uncertainties. In addition, stakeholders were afforded an opportunity to connect and collaborate with other actors. The keynote address was given by Prof Wiehann Steyn. Prof Steyn is the programme manager for crop production at Hortgro Science in the Western Cape. He leads research and development for pome and stone fruit production, with irrigation and water use efficiency as a key focus. Prof Steyn's presentation focused on "Coping with Drought" and included four key sections: "the lay of the land", "the bottom of the barrel", "surviving the drought and harnessing opportunities" and "lessons learned and what HortGro is doing". In his introduction "lay of the land", Prof Steyn put the Western Cape in context providing details on its rainfall, water sources and supply system. The workhop then went on to the games design section where groups brainstormed games that explore fruit and water resilience. Participants were highly engaged and there was much interesting discussion. A few participants were quiet during the plenary sessions, but these people participated well during the group work. Participants recognised the value of using game design to reflect reality and as a problem solving technique. Several participants also reflected on teamwork within the groups and the use of the game to reach a common goal. The majority of participants enjoyed the day but many highlighted the need for government participation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | M&S suppliers workshop - London 1 October 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Playing the 'Fruit & Veg v The Future' game with staff from a retailer and suppliers of fruit and vegetables. The workshop was linked to a supplier meeting on Climate Change. It commenced with an overview of the project (presented by Tim Hess). He then explained how games can be valuable tools for increasing understanding of complex systems and led the group through a game design exercise demonstrating how games and the real world are related. We discussed how the "Fruit and Veg vs. The Future" game can be used to design a fresh fruit and vegetable system, expose it to water-related shocks and track how these shocks move through the system (and who they finally impact). The participants then played the game in groups of eight, after which we discussed and compared the outcomes. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Meeting with UK DTI and Western Cape Government (South Africa) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Meeting at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (London) with Western Cape Government, including Alan Winde (Minister of Economic Opportunities) and Andrew Selous MP (UK Trade Envoy to S Africa) to discuss mitigating the impact of drought on the S Africa fresh fruit sector. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | N8 Agrifood Conference - 22 October 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Keynote presentation on the resilience of the UK fresh fruit and vegetable supply. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Organisation of and presentation at a workshop at the 2018 World Water Week, Stockholm "Efficiency, sufficiency, sustainability: allocation in river basins" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Conveners of the event were: • IUCN Water Programme, Switzerland • WWF International • University of East Anglia, UK • Cranfield University, UK • Institute of Natural Resources, South Africa • FAO Regional Office for Asia Pacific The workshop responded to the interpretation that water (re)allocation is a serious water policy challenge; how to prioritise different river basin benefits and functions given increasing competition for limited water resources. River basins hosting large irrigation systems are at risk from patterns of water consumption affecting the hidden, inflexible and often informal allocation of water from agriculture to other sectors including ecosystems. Such basins are particularly difficult to manage in terms of equitable and transparent water allocation with hydrological and geographical factors and legacy infrastructure and institutions favouring a form of lock-in. Flaws in water allocation become particularly exposed during drought periods when ecosystems are requires to absorb the shock. Private sector interests regarding irrigation must also be better informed of broader basin water challenges, and contribute to sustainable water resources management. Our FF&V project was ideally placed to contribute to this debate. Using a series of rapid-fire presentations and audience interaction to develop key recommendations, this seminar examined how we can better understand the dynamic of water allocation in river basins from the perspectives of efficiency, productivity, sufficiency, sustainability and resilience. It identified key lessons from public and private stakeholders and research findings to better place efficiency and resilience within the context of sufficient water for commercial and public sector needs, as well as the need for downstream flows for environmental and other social needs. Building on recent research, the event considered the role of irrigation as a key water resource management challenge that needs better positioning within the broader ecosystem flow and water management policy debates. A considerable debate followed the presentations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://www.siwi.org/publications/world-water-week-programme-2018/ |
| Description | Precision Irrigation trials at ADESVA, Spain 2018-2019, 2019-2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | The PIP technology developed from IUK 101623 and enhanced by outputs from 102124 is currently being tested at the ADESVA Research Institute, Huelva, Spain. The PIP system is being used in substrate table-top strawberry production to try to improve the water and fertiliser use efficiencies of soft fruit production in the Donana and Huelva regions in Spain. The potential for water and fertiliser savings achieved by implementing the PIP are being compared to those achieved with a monitoring system installed by a local provider. We are also comparing the production efficiency of substrate strawberry production with that of soil-grown production in the region. The project is co-funded by the SAI Platform and the Coca-Cola Foundation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019,2020 |
| URL | http://www.ferdonana.es/en |
| Description | Presentation of project outputs at the AHDB Soft Fruit Day Webinar 18 Nov 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | A presentation entitled "How the UK soft fruit industry is building resilience to water-related risks" was made at the AHDB Soft Fruit Day event held on line on 18 November 2020. Following an introduction to the project's aims and objectives, the outcomes from NIAB EMR's interviews with 30 Soft fruit growers were presented and discussed. Strategies to better mitigate against seasonal water shortages included building reservoirs, sinking new bore holes, extending water storage capacity, installing RWH systems, using sensor technologies and automation to improve irrigation scheduling to better meet crop demand for water with supply. There were few concerns amongst the growers about an increased reliance on technologies, but they did specify that further support and training will be needed. Overall, the take home message was that those growers who are prepared to invest in technologies will be more resilient to future changes, challenges, and shocks. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Presentation to MSc students - Water risks to the UK fruit and veg supply |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Lecture given to 5 students on the module, "Water and Sustainable Agrifood". The findings of the project were reported to the students and they were shown techniques for accessing trade and production data and calculating water use in production and water scarcity footprints. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Presentation to MSc students - Water scarcity and food security |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The presentation was used to discuss the project and findings thus far and to get students to think critically about the water that is used to produce their food, and discuss strategies and policies for increasing consumer awareness of the impacts of their fruit and vegetable consumption patterns on water scarcity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Project Presentation to the Food Standards Agency |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Approximately 50 members of the Food Standards agency attended a presentation of the project at hand. The presentation encouraged a series of questions and discussion about how food systems research, risk and resilience play out in their context. Further, the project gained interest from FSA members to the extent that they would like to be involved in the project's inquiry going forward. The FSA members represented various expert areas from within the social and natural sciences, as well as national, and international contexts regarding food safety and food quality. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | RaspResil BGG Technical Day Presentations 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | An overview of the project aims. objectives and outputs was included in a presentation made at the Berry Gardens Technical Conference in November 2017, in December 2018, and in November 2019 at the usual venue in Ashford, Kent. In 2020, the BGG Research and Agronomy Day was held on-line on 11 November 2020, and how the outputs from this project are being used in IUK 105542 was presented. A presentation describing the outputs from this project. how they are being exploited in IUK 51135 and how they are being used to inform R&D work at NIAB EMR commissioned by industry was presented to staff from Driscoll's Genetics Ltd on 28 January 2021. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018,2019,2020,2021 |
| Description | Serious game presentation and testing |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A prototype serious game being designed as part of the project was presented and tested with participants as part of a serious games session at the European Geophysical Union conference in Vienna. Around 20 people engaged actively with the game, as well as others who watched, and this led to interest in the project and extremely useful feedback for improving the game. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Short blog asking "How is scarce water in South Africa really allocated and what are the implications for catchment resilience and fruit production?" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Blog published 6th Nov 2018 By Bruce Lankford (University of East Anglia), and Jon McCosh, Mlungisi Shabalala and Lutendo Mugwedi (Institute of Natural Resources) In this piece we argued that; 1) an absence of purposive managed water allocation can be observed in some South African catchments; and 2) within this absence, individual actors can gain and shore up their own allocations; 3) with the result that, on the surface, commercial fruit growers look to be resilient and efficient, but wider longer-term catchment production and ecosystems resilience, especially during prolonged drought, is at risk; and finally, 4) water governance within South Africa needs to be pursued more rigorously in order to effect efficient, flexible and equitable water allocation in both drought and non-drought times. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://www.watersecuritynetwork.org/how-is-scarce-water-in-south-africa-really-allocated-and-what-ar... |
| Description | Stakeholder Workshop - Increasing Resilience to Water Related Risk in the UK Fresh Fruit and Vegetable System |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The workshop brought together 20 representatives from across the UK fresh fruit and vegetable system to participate in a collaborative strategy development exercise for identifying and working with future uncertainties surrounding the the fresh fruit and vegetable system. The workshop participants included representatives from across industry, farming, policy, water and environmental services, consumers, and research. The activities of the workshop stimulated cross sector interactions and discussions regarding the content of systemic interventions for an industry resilient to water-related risks. The outputs from the workshop activities, namely notes, diagrams, actor and system maps will contribute to the development of a report to be disseminated among the participants and contributing parties highlighting the mutual learning from the event as well as feed into a serious game for future collaboration and decision making around water-related risks across a broad set of system stakeholders. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Stakeholder serious game workshop (Peterborough) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The workshop commenced with an overview of the project (presented by Tim Hess). Bruce Lankford and Chloe Sutcliffe then explained how games can be valuable tools for increasing understanding of complex systems and led the group through a game design exercise demonstrating how games and the real world are related. Joanne Craven explained how the "Fruit and Veg vs. The Future" game can be used to design a fresh fruit and vegetable system, expose it to water-related shocks and track how these shocks move through the system (and who they finally impact). The participants then played the game in groups of six, after which we discussed and compared the outcomes. The aims of the workshops were to: • Play out a set of possible future scenarios • Identify strategies which increase resilience to water risk in a wide variety of futures • Identify first steps to implementing these strategies • Evaluate the utility of the game with fresh fruit and veg industry stakeholders The workshop structure encouraged participants to view these issues from different perspectives. In the wrap up discussion several threads for increasing resilience were explored. Key take-home messages unearthed during the game sessions were: • Water-related risks tended to be pushed to the bottom and top ends of the value chain • 'Siloed' thinking about building resilience within specific sectors affected overall resilience • Multi-year extreme events such as droughts had unexpected consequences • A portfolio of resilience measures were needed to cope with future climate uncertainty • Trusted partnerships in the value chain were an essential component of building system resilience |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Stakeholder serious games workshop (London) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The workshop commenced with an overview of the project (presented by Tim Hess). Bruce Lankford and Chloe Sutcliffe then explained how games can be valuable tools for increasing understanding of complex systems and led the group through a game design exercise demonstrating how games and the real world are related. Joanne Craven explained how the "Fruit and Veg vs. The Future" game can be used to design a fresh fruit and vegetable system, expose it to water-related shocks and track how these shocks move through the system (and who they finally impact). The participants then played the game in groups of six, after which we discussed and compared the outcomes. The aims of the workshops were to: • Play out a set of possible future scenarios • Identify strategies which increase resilience to water risk in a wide variety of futures • Identify first steps to implementing these strategies • Evaluate the utility of the game with fresh fruit and veg industry stakeholders The workshop structure encouraged participants to view these issues from different perspectives. In the wrap up discussion several threads for increasing resilience were explored. Key take-home messages unearthed during the game sessions were: • Water-related risks tended to be pushed to the bottom and top ends of the value chain • 'Siloed' thinking about building resilience within specific sectors affected overall resilience • Multi-year extreme events such as droughts had unexpected consequences • A portfolio of resilience measures were needed to cope with future climate uncertainty • Trusted partnerships in the value chain were an essential component of building system resilience |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Student workshop at Oxford - 6 December 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The FF&V versus the Future serious game was played with students from Oxford University. The students gained an experience of the different perspectives and objectives involved. Some quotes from the feedback forms: - "Winning was not clear cut - and it was good to see that" - "Allow you to understand networks and outcomes in manageable ways and to observe your own positionality." - "games allow you to understand other actor positions. " - "Games permit play different roles from a stakeholder role and therefore understand/bring up voices/solutions / commitments needed in conflict resolution." - "we clarified our background understanding of water science, strengthened and interrogated concepts in a way/ways that only gaming could have and that orthodox pedagogical tools probably cannot/don't." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | The global avocado crisis adn the question of supply system resilience |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This blog piece used the recent surge in prices for avocados to look at the question of how water shortages (amongst other factors), may lead to scarcity on the global market and drive high prices in food imports, and used this discussion to introduce the project. The article was viewed 319 times. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://blogs.cranfield.ac.uk/category/water/ |
| Description | UK-Israel Conference on Climate Change |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation on The water scarcity footprint of the UK fresh fruit and vegetable supply at UK-Israel Conference on Climate Change organised by British Council in Tel Aviv. 2 - 4 October. The UK supply of fresh fruit and vegetables (including potatoes) (FF&V) is equivalent to 179 kg per person per year. 97% of the potatoes are grown in the UK, but, 45% of the other vegetables, and 90% of the fruit are imported. Large-scale commercial FF&V production tends to be concentrated in locations that have low rainfall and therefore rely heavily on irrigation to achieve high, reliable yields of high quality F&V. Consequently, we estimate that production of FF&V for the UK, consumes ~560 million m3 of freshwater each year, 74% of which is consumed outside of the UK, often in water scarce locations. 98% of the F&V supplied to the UKis grown in countries of above global-average water scarcity and 21% is sourced from countries with more than 10 times global-average water scarcity. Therefore, there is a risk that the available water resources may be insufficient to meet the year-round needs of all sectors, leading to a risk of over-exploitation of surface and ground water resources, reduced water availability to vulnerable sectors (especially the environment) and resource degradation (e.g. groundwater depletion and salinization). Reliance on stressed water resources increases the vulnerability of the supply of FF&V to the UK to water shortages during drought. Many of the major FF&V producing regions that supply the UK have seen recent significant droughts (e.g. California, Spain, Israel, South Africa) are projected to see increased risk of drought in the future. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Water security network blog post |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Blog post on water scarcity in South Africa "How is scarce water in South Africa really allocated and what are the implications for catchment resilience and fruit production?" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://www.watersecuritynetwork.org/how-is-scarce-water-in-south-africa-really-allocated-and-what-ar... |
| Description | Western Cape growers workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | South Africa is a major exporter of fruit to the world. In particular, it plays an important role in sustaining nutritious and healthy diets in the United Kingdom (UK). In turn, the UK plays an important role as a market for fruit from South Africa. The Limpopo Province and the Western Cape Province, among others, are important regions locally in the production and export of fresh fruit. At the same time, the fruit sector is sensitive to water-related stresses, as evidenced by the recent and past droughts experienced in the region. The workshop formed part of a research project, being led by Cranfield University (UK), with University of East Anglia (UK), University of Oxford (UK) and East Malling Research (UK) in partnership with with the Institute of Natural Resources (South Africa). Part of this research is being conducted with growers and other stakeholders in the Western Cape and the Groot Letaba catchment (Tzaneen and Letsitele, in particular) to better understand the resilience of South African fruit production to water-related risks. The objectives of the workshop were to give growers, representatives and buyers within the fruit industry and those with interests in water resources, an opportunity to explore recent experiences and future scenarios related to changing water scarcity, irrigation management and catchment resilience. The workshop also acted as a capacity development activity, through which stakeholders could gain a deeper, systemic understanding of the Fresh Fruit Sector, be able to articulate desirable future visions for the sector, and consider future uncertainties. Approximately 90 delegates attended the workshop including one representative from Worldwide Fruit and five project team members. The delegates represented commercial growers, pack-houses, agronomists, industry associations, customers (including Sainsbury's, Woolworths and M&S) and government agencies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |