Our Mission
Our research group seeks to evaluate and quantify feedbacks between agricultural production and environmental change. We are particularly interested in understanding the links between agriculture, water resources and climate in order to identify technologies, management strategies and policies that enable farmers to sustainably decouple production and livelihoods from hydroclimatic variability and climate change. Our applied research activities are guided by the following core scientific and policy questions:
We address these questions using interdiscplinary approaches that combine insights, tools and methods from a range of discplines including hydrology, agronomy, engineering, remote sensing, climate science, economics and policy. Our group currently has active research projects in several areas around the world, ranging from high productivity farming systems in North America and Europe to smallholder dominated agricultural regions of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
We use findings from our research to guide and inform water management, climate adaptation and rural development policies and programs in these regions, working in close collaboration with local researchers, government, private sector, multilateral donors, and international agencies such as the U.N Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the CGIAR.
- How do agricultural land and water use vary over space and time?
- What are the main drivers of agricultural land and water use decisions?
- How does water scarcity affect the productivity, profitability, and resilience of agriculture and rural economies?
- How can agricultural land and water needs be balanced with those of the environment and other sectors?
We address these questions using interdiscplinary approaches that combine insights, tools and methods from a range of discplines including hydrology, agronomy, engineering, remote sensing, climate science, economics and policy. Our group currently has active research projects in several areas around the world, ranging from high productivity farming systems in North America and Europe to smallholder dominated agricultural regions of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
We use findings from our research to guide and inform water management, climate adaptation and rural development policies and programs in these regions, working in close collaboration with local researchers, government, private sector, multilateral donors, and international agencies such as the U.N Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the CGIAR.