Projects per year
Personal profile
Supervision
9 current PhD students and 18 completed PhDs
Biography
Christine Watson is Professor of Agricultural Systems at SRUC (Scotland’s Rural College, http://www.sruc.ac.uk/). She also holds a Guest Professorship at SLU (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences). Christine’s research focuses on the management of micro and macro nutrients in organic and conventional agri-food systems at a range of scales from local to continental. She has a particular interest in crop diversification and the agronomic and environmental benefits this can bring in stocked and stockless farming systems. Christine was President of the European Society for Agronomy (2014/2016), and President of the Association of Applied Biologists (2017/18). She is on the editorial board of the European Journal of Agronomy. Christine currently chairs the UK Expert Group on Organic Production.
Projects
2022/26 UKRI UK AgriFood4NetZero Network (Led by University of the West of England) Co-I
2022/26 Horizon Europe Developing Intercropping for agrifood Value chains and Ecosystem Services delivery in Europe and Southern countries (Intercrop Values) (Led by CIRAD) WP lead
2023/23 Natural England Managing the Quality of Organic Matter (OM) inputs to enhance Microbial Biomass and Activity. Lead.
2022 Natural England Setting minimum inputs of organic matter for agricultural land: What are the current quantities of organic inputs to soil under typical management practices? (led by NIAB) PI
2021 Defra Scoping Study on the Opportunities and Barriers of Improved Forages for Livestock Sustainability and Productivity (led by NIAB) PI
2021/2022 Defra Review of opportunities for diversifying UK agriculture through investment in underutilised crops (led by NIAB) WP Lead
2020/24 H2020 SFS Multi-actor and transdisciplinary development of efficient and resilient mixed farming and agroforestry systems (MIXED) (led by Aarhus University) WP Lead.
2019/22 SusCrop ERANET Increasing productivity and sustainability of European plant protein production by closing the grain legume yield gap (LegumeGap) (led by University of Helsinki) PI
Research interests
I am a soil scientist interested in soil and nutrient management in organic and conventional agri-food systems at a range of scales from local to continental. Current interests include:
- Developing "user friendly" soil health metrics
- Integrating grain and forage legumes into farming systems
- Optimising crop/livestock linkages for improved resource use efficiency
- Spatial and temporal crop mixtures for efficient nutrient use
Education/Academic qualification
PhD, Agriculture, University of Aberdeen
Award Date: 16 Dec 1995
Bachelor, Soil Science, University of Reading
Award Date: 7 Jul 1985
External positions
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
19 Aug 2019 → 30 Jun 2022
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
1 May 2012 → 18 Aug 2019
Keywords
- S Agriculture (General)
- Soil science
- Nutrient cycling
- Cropping systems
- Crop/livestock systems
- Nutrient management
- Legumes
- Intercropping
Fingerprint
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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CLEAR: Collaborative Landscape planning for Enhanced Agrobiodiversity and Resilience (CLEAR)
Cole, L. (CoI), Watson, C. (PI) & Topp, K. (CoI)
1/03/23 → 28/02/26
Project: Research
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INTERCROPS: Developing Intercropping for agrifood Value chains and Ecosystem Services delivery in Europe and Southern countries
Watson, C. (PI), Topp, K. (CoI), Walker, R. (CoI) & Hargreaves, P. (CoI)
1/11/22 → 31/10/26
Project: Research
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Assessing Microbiome Functional Traits As Indicators Of Soil Health For Sustainable Agriculture
Watson, C. (Supervisor), Holden, N. (Supervisor) & Horne, J. (PhD Student)
1/10/22 → 30/09/26
Project: PhD project
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AgriFood4NetZero: Plausible Pathways, Practical and Open Science for Net Zero Agrifood in the UK
Watson, C. (PI)
1/06/22 → 30/06/25
Project: Research
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RESAS 22-27: Unc Soils And Related Environmental Data ? Collection, Management, Application, Dissemination And Governance
Watson, C. (PI), Sinclair, A. (CoI), Hopkins, D. (CoI), Fraser, F. (CoI) & Denniston, J. (CoI)
Scottish Government: Rural & Environment Science & Analytical Services
1/04/22 → 31/03/27
Project: Research
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Assessing the effect of intercropped leguminous service crops on main crops and soil processes using APSIM NG
Lagerquist, E., Vogeler, I., Kumar, U., Bergkvist, G., Lana, M., Watson, C. A. & Parsons, D., Apr 2024, In: Agricultural Systems. 216, 103884.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile4 Citations (Scopus)78 Downloads (Pure) -
Crop rotational diversity can mitigate climate-induced grain yield losses
Costa, A., Bommarco, R., Smith, M. E., Bowles, T., Gaudin, A. C. M., Watson, C. A., Alarcón, R., Berti, A., Blecharczyk, A., Calderon, F. J., Culman, S., Deen, W., Drury, C. F., Garcia Y Garcia, A., García-Díaz, A., Hernández Plaza, E., Jonczyk, K., Jäck, O., Navarrete Martínez, L. & Montemurro, F. & 15 others, , May 2024, In: Global Change Biology. 30, 5, e17298.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile5 Citations (Scopus)137 Downloads (Pure) -
Future proofing a long-term agricultural experiment for decades to come: Relocation and redesign
Watson, C., Topp, C., Mead, A., Fraser, F., Fernandez-Huarte, M., Horne, J., Paton, G. I., Hallett, P. D., Norton, G. J., Graham, R. & Walker, R., Aug 2024, In: European Journal of Agronomy. 158, 127214.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile45 Downloads (Pure) -
Long-term field pH manipulation influence on microbial activity, water repellency and physical properties of soil
Fountouli, A., Paton, G. I., Watson, C. A., Walker, R. L., Raffan, A. & Hallett, P. D., 1 Sept 2024, In: Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics. 72, 3, p. 292-301 10 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile10 Downloads (Pure) -
Saving, sharing and shaping landrace seeds in commons: unravelling seed commoning norms for furthering agrobiodiversity
Sandström, E., Ortman, T., Watson, C. A., Bengtsson, J., Gustafsson, C. & Bergkvist, G., 28 Jun 2024, (First published) In: Agriculture and Human Values. 16 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile16 Downloads (Pure)
Datasets
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Data from: Engineering a plant community to deliver multiple ecosystem services
Storkey, J. (Creator), Döring, T. (Creator), Baddeley, J. (Creator), Collins, R. (Creator), Roderick, S. (Creator), Jones, H. (Creator) & Watson, C. (Creator), Dryad, 20 Dec 2014
DOI: 10.5061/dryad.qj3mg, https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.qj3mg
Dataset
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Long-term ley-arable systems: Impact on soil properties
topp, K. (Creator), Walker, R. (Contributor) & Watson, C. (Contributor), Zenodo, 25 Apr 2023
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.8087570, https://zenodo.org/records/8087570
Dataset
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Scottish soil tests per year
Fraser, F. (Creator), Watson, C. (Creator) & Hopkins, D. (Creator), Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), 2024
DOI: 10.58073/sruc.25909411, https://sruc.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Scottish_soil_tests_per_year/25909411
Dataset
Prizes
Activities
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“What we want, when we want it - how do we fix the Nitrogen supply challenge in organic farming?”
Watson, C. (Speaker)
18 Jun 2024Activity: Talk, evidence or presentation types › Invited talk
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4th International Legume Society Congress
Watson, C. (Participant)
2023Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Organising a conference, workshop, ...
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Closing the legume gap for people, planet and profit
Watson, C. (Speaker)
20 Sept 2023Activity: Talk, evidence or presentation types › Invited talk
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"Performance of short‐term leys in organic rotations – experiences from a long‐term experiment"
Watson, C. (Speaker)
8 Feb 2023Activity: Talk, evidence or presentation types › Invited talk
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UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (External organisation)
Watson, C. (Chair)
2022 → 2025Activity: Membership types › Membership of committee