Water, nutrient and future of food production

The global growth of crop production has been achieved mainly through the intensive use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers transferred later to water bodies. We aim to design an effective response for future food production by building an optimisation-driven model aiming to simulate water quality trade at the local-regional level and applying it to one or more regions in the UK. Valuation of nutrient, economically and environmentally to different industries and sectors will be performed. The student will use the existing farm modelling and advance it with the developed model in studying water quality trade impact on farmers behaviour and nutritional production under different climate conditions, and as a consequence, provide credible evidences to address the implication of a market oriented agricultural expansion on water abstraction, environmental and human health.