Soil, Water, and Crop Science

Our Research

Soil and water sciences at Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology focus around the study of agricultural field drainage, and soil management. Our research aims to support farmers, landowners, and ecosystem managers in developing effective, sustainable approaches to land and water management.

Research Projects

HiRes-Soils: Robotic platforms for high resolution maps of soil carbon and GHG emissions

HiRes-Soil aims to massively increase the current capacity to map and understand the active part of the soil carbon cycle and NO2 emissions. It will do this by developing a field capable autonomous platform to map soil carbon flux, NO2 soil emissions, and soil cores for lab analysis. This would lead to cost effective and widespread direct measurement of soil carbon, the flux of GHGs CO2 and NO2 out of the soil, enabling carbon credits (private or government backed) to be directly audited, and land managers to learn what management practices increase carbon storage and reduced GHG soil emissions on their land.

Project Lead: Dr Shaun Coutts

Co-Investigator: Iain Gould

Funder: Innovate UK

21EJP SOIL: Preadapting soil biology for increased tolerance to elevated salinities due to climate change

This work aims to understand the science behind changed soil salinity to inform management solutions and help to maintain food supply in the face of climate change.

Project Lead: Professor Matthew Goddard

Co-Investigator: Iain Gould

Funder: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Developing practical guidance and evidence of sustainable practices, working towards a net-zero potato supply chain – TuberNetZero

The aim is to investigate and quantify the effect that different cropping techniques have on soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to produce net zero carbon potatoes.

Project Lead: Dr Sandra Varga

Co-Investigator: Iain Gould

Funder: Innovate UK

Optimising Miscanthus Establishment through improved mechanisation and data capture to meet Net Zero targets (OMENZ)

Terravesta, a world­ leading expert on Miscanthus with a consortium of academic and industrial partners, aims to improve our existing technology to deliver Miscanthus planting at a scale not achievable with current approaches.

Project Lead: Professor Simon Pearson

Co-Investigators: Iain Gould, Oorbessy Gaju, Shaun Coutts, Leonidas Rempelos

Funder: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

The economic consequences of saline groundwater flooding in Lincolnshire

This proposal will: (1) identify the type of salinisation process across the county and effect of climate change; (2) quantify the degree, length and severity of salinity and effect of climate change, (3) assess the types (and value) of crops grown; (4) estimate the loss of yield (and value) from salinisation for Lincolnshire crops and (5) assess farm level decisions/choices such as the use of salt tolerant crops and other adaptation mechanisms. Answering these questions will enable a comprehensive evaluation of the economic impact of salinity.

Project Lead: Dr Daniel Magnone

Co-Investigators: Eric Ruto, Iain Gould, Jay Emery, Mark Schuerch, Matthew Hannaford

Funder: Lincolnshire County Council

Decarbonising agriculture: synergistic nitrogen-fixing bacteria and photocatalyst to maximize fertilizer efficiency and improve air quality

This project will upscale the material manufacturing process (target capacity: 15 tons to cover 15,000 hectares of crop land) to meet the requirement for commercial application of R-Leaf to achieve and optimise the expected benefits and impacts. R-Leaf can capture atmospheric NOx and convert it into nitrate directly on crop-foliage to improve crop-growth and yield. The project aims to optimise the recommendation of the solution for a maximum output through efficacy testing, develop quality control measures for consistency of production, quantify the impact of the technology, and reflect the carbon credit value potential to support adoption.

Project Lead: Dr Taghread Hudaib

Co-Investigators: Iain Gould, Ravi Valluru

Funder: Innovate UK