Soils Security Programme Coordinator

206afc2c-6a2a-41e4-b07c-fea3135acca5

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NERC
NERC
NERC
NERC
NERC

£4,903,430

Jan. 5, 2015

Sept. 1, 2020

The role of the Soil Security Programme Coordinator is to lead, manage and coordinate activities within the Soil Security Programme. This programme is aligned to the Global Food Security programme (http://www.foodsecurity.ac.uk/) which is where the UK's main public funders of food-related research and training are working together to meet the challenge of providing the world's growing population with a sustainable, secure supply of safe, nutritious, and affordable high-quality food using less land, with lower inputs, and in the context of global climate change and declining resources. The Soil Security programme focuses on the ecosystem services provided by soil namely; food security, climate mitigation and water and nutrient cycling.
The Coordinator will maximise the impact of the research within this £5 million pound investment by ensuring that the programme links with the wide range of programmes that are ongoing or developing across government and the research councils e.g. Sustainable Agriculture Research and Innovation Club (SARIC), Soil and Rhizosphere Interactions for Sustainable Agri-ecosystems (SARISA) and the Agri-Tech Centres. By close collaboration with the policy makers at Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs and the devolved administrations in Wales and Scotland the findings of the research will provide evidence to support current and developing policy such as the European Soils Framework Directive. Agricultural practitioners will also be co-opted into the programme so that improvements in production without negative impacts on the environment can be realised.
At the conclusion of the programme a cohesive soils community will have been developed that can deliver the aspiration of sustainable soils by 2030.

Potential Impact:
The value of UK production from soils is £5.3 billion, with soil degradation costing £0.9-1.4 billion. Therefore it is essential that impact is maximised across the Soil Security programme, hence it is at the heart of this proposal. We will create dynamic linkages across the full suite of activities related to soils and their agricultural and ecosystem services to deliver the UK Government's aspiration of sustainable soils by 2030.
We will do this by achieving 3 objectives
1. To develop a soil community with free flowing knowledge exchange between the wide range of funding streams and their stakeholders which will extend beyond the lifetime of the Soil Security programme and thereby maximise its impact.
2. To raise the profile of the Soil Security programme nationally and internationally.
3. To inform the public of the need for sustainable soils in the context of land use and climate change.

These three objective will be addressed by intensive knowledge exchange activities. These will have three principal components one-to-one visits, workshops and community conferences these will determine the capability of the research community and its ability to address the needs of practitioners and policy developers. By establishing an integrated community we will maximise the impact of the UK Government's funding in the soils area and achieve a sustainable inccrease in agricultural productivity.