Bespoke field margins for delivering multiple benefits to fresh produce

"Pest control in agriculture currently relies on chemicals but tighter legislation, pesticide resistance and environmental concerns mean that alternative solutions are required. One option is to harness the natural predators of crop pests to regulate pest populations and support chemical control as part of an integrated pest management (IPM) strategy. This project will apply this approach of enhancing 'ecosystem services' in the context of the production of fresh produce such as carrots and parsnips. The project will use existing knowledge and experiments to reverse engineer field margin plant communities that support targeted communities of beneficial organisms. As well as offering training and expertise held at by the University of Reading and Rothamsted Research, the studentship also partners with Huntapac, a 4th generation family owned business producing and distributing fresh produce. The project will contribute to ongoing work on sustainable crop protection and biodiversity conservation on Huntapac farms.

The student will benefit from internationally excellent training in: "Research in Agriculture, Ecology and Environment" through access to Reading's Masters course lectures; field methodologies for ecosystem services and through ongoing nationally funded and EU projects at Reading and Rothamsted. The student will have access to the suite of training courses (including field experiment design and statistical analysis) available at Rothamsted and also be able to take advantage of the training infra-structure offered through the partners in the NERC funded ENVISION DTP on which Rothamsted is a partner.

The student will have the opportunity to work with a wide range of national and international researchers through short placements on ongoing nationally funded and EU projects at Reading and Rothamsted. The student will also be encouraged to participate in various stakeholder engagement and outreach activities run by Reading, Rothamsted and Huntapac which include exhibitions showcasing their research at agricultural shows, industry conferences and public events. The student will also have the opportunity to collaborate with scientists from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) and the British Geological Survey as part of a large RCUK UK project on sustainable intensification of agriculture (ASSIST), http://www.ceh.ac.uk/our-science/projects/ASSIST.