Alfred Gathorne-Hardy

• University of Edinburgh

Agriculture is currently the largest driver of biodiversity‐loss worldwide. There is a critical need to develop agricultural systems that protect and promote biodiversity, while also meeting local and global food needs. Ecological theory suggests that cultivating crops in diverse mixtures both maximises niche occupancy and generates additional nich...

Urban development is a key driver of global biodiversity loss. “Green” infrastructure is integrated to offset some impacts of development on ecosystem quality by supporting urban biodiversity, a prominent example being green roofs. The effects of green infrastructures on urban biodiversity are not well understood and poorly included in life cycle a...

Famers in India face rising costs of cultivation and stagnating yields, compounded by increasing uncertainty due to three Cs: climate change, COVID-19, and conflicts. Our objective was to evaluate the economic situation and wellbeing of agricultural households in Andhra Pradesh, a state in south India. We specifically explored sources of income; in...

Despite the widespread harm caused by cars and automobility, governments, corporations, and individuals continue to facilitate it by expanding roads, manufacturing larger vehicles, and subsidising parking, electric cars, and resource extraction. This literature review synthesises the negative consequences of automobility, or car harm, which we have...

Lowland heath is a priority habitat for conservation, nowadays largely managed for biodiversity. Historically, prescribed burning has been the principal management tool, but there are increasing calls to substitute burning with cutting to improve biodiversity outcomes. However, poor understanding of potential impacts compromises decision making. Ou...

The BLOOM study (co-Benefits of Largescale Organic farming On huMan health) aims to determine if a government-implemented agroecology programme reduces pesticide exposure and improves dietary diversity in agricultural households. To achieve this aim, a community-based, cluster-randomised controlled evaluation of the Andhra Pradesh Community-managed...

Socioeconomic demand for natural capital is causing catastrophic losses of biodiversity and ecosystem functionality, most notably in regions where socioeconomic-and eco-systems compete for natural capital, e.g., energy (animal or plant matter). However, a poor quantitative understanding of what natural capital is needed to support biodiversity in e...

Background The use of pesticides in agriculture has been associated with the destruction of biodiversity and damage to human health. A marked reduction in pesticide use is urgently required globally, but whether this can be achieved rapidly and at scale is unclear. We aimed to assess whether government-legislated and funded organic farming training...

Conserving crop diversity is promoted for global food system stability and creating local benefits like improved farmer nutrition, incomes and adaptive capacities. However, little is known about how farmers make decisions shaping crop diversity, and how conservation efforts can be aligned with farmers' goals. This study examines how interacting val...

The challenge of maximising agricultural productivity encourages growers to apply high volumes of nitrogen (N) fertilisers and pesticides in order to promote and protect yields. Despite these inputs, pests and pathogens (P&Ps) continue to cause economic losses and challenge food security at local, national, and global scales. P&Ps are a particular...

Agricultural development research and policy has to address climate change. Against the mainstream focus on adaptation, this article reports on public policy implications for climate change mitigation of a project measuring environmental, social and economic aspects of India’s rice economy: greenhouse gases (GHGs), energy and water; the quantity an...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Grain legumes (or pulses–annual leguminous crops that are harvested solely for their dried seeds such as lentils or chickpeas) are essential for sustainable cropping systems. They positively contribute to soil fertility and agricultural biodiversity and are a highly nutritious food source, yet they remain under-exploited across the world. In India–...

How we manage farming and food systems to meet rising demand is pivotal to the future of biodiversity. Extensive field data suggest that impacts on wild populations would be greatly reduced through boosting yields on existing farmland so as to spare remaining natural habitats. High-yield farming raises other concerns because expressed per unit area...

New agricultural technologies bring multiple impacts which are hard to predict. Two changes taking place in Indian agriculture are a transition from bullocks to tractors and an associated replacement of manure with synthetic fertilisers. This paper uses primary data to model social, environmental and economic impacts of these transitions in South I...

Rice feeds more people than any other crop, but each kilogram of rice is responsible for substantially more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than other key staple foods. The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) has recently received considerable attention for its ability to increase yields while using less water. Yet so far there has been little rese...

This article was submitted without an abstract, please refer to the full-text PDF file.

This article was submitted without an abstract, please refer to the full-text PDF file.

This article was submitted without an abstract, please refer to the full-text PDF file.

Summary As the science underpinning man's influence on climate change becomes more certain, the opportunities and threats for agriculture in the UK have become more apparent. Earlier research work funded by the HGCA and by other agencies began the process of: 1. developing the confidence that annual crops could be used to produce biofuels which und...