Andrew is a Professor of Rural Resource Economics and Head of the Department for Rural Economy, Environment and Society.  He has a variety of interests focused around the socio-economics of agricultural production.  This covers high and low income country contexts, working recently in both Colombia and East Africa to understand uptake of sustainable practices.  He also works with industry and recently worked with both the Global Dairy Platform and the Institute of Grocery Distribution on uptake of climate smart solutions.  These include investigations into uptake of precision farming techniques, ecological practice adoption as well as measuring the impact of these practices on wider social goals, such as greenhouse gas emissions and animal welfare.   

He has established a team of interdisciplinary scientists working on farmer behaviours and innovation, as well on the economics of farm production.  He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, an executive member of the UK Agricultural Economics Society, and recently served on a working party for the Scottish Science Advisory Council around food access.  He also leads economic input into the Scottish Animal Health Consortium (EPIC) and is member of the science directorate for Climate Exchange (CxC).  He has an interest in data management and analysis and is an ONS Accredited Researcher.

He has contributed to a number of debates of policy significance, most recently with the Royal Society on their 2050 Climate Challenge and for Defra in development of standards for their Environmental Land Management system.  

Agricultural Economics;

Uptake of Sustainable Farming Measures;

Efficiency and Sustainability Metrics;

Farm Management Decision-Making;

Climate Smart Agriculture

Animal Health Economics

Alternative Proteins

Andrew has supervised over 25 Msc Students mostly in the area of Ecological Economics and Food Security and lead supervised 15 phD students to successful completion. 

He was the programme leader, having led establishment of the BSc in Agricultural Economics (jointly with GAAFs at the University of Edinburgh),  and teaching economics courses on Rural Business Management, Food Security and Ecological Economics.