Projects per year
Personal profile
Supervision
8 current PhD students and 15 completed PhDs
Biography
Christine Watson is Professor of Agricultural Systems at SRUC (Scotland’s Rural College, http://www.sruc.ac.uk/). She currently holds the KSLA Wallenberg 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. Over the past 5 years much of her research has focused on assessing and developing legume based farming systems in Africa and Europe. Christine was President of the European Society for Agronomy (2014/2016), and President of the Association of Applied Biologists (2017/18). She is an Associate Editor of Legume Science and on the editorial board of the European Journal of Agronomy. Christine was also a member of the EIP Focus Group on Mixed Crop Livestock systems.
Projects
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
2018/22 H2020 Thematic Network Translating knowledge for legume-based farming for feed and food systems. (Legumes Translated) (Led by Thünen Institute) WP Lead
2018/2021 BBSRC Global Food Systems Sustainable economic and ecological grazing systems - learning from innovative practitioners. (Led by CEH) Co-I
2017/2021 H2020 SFS Redesigning European cropping systems based on species MIXtures (ReMIX) (Led by INRA) WP Lead
2014/2017 FACCE JPI Climate Smart Agriculture Climate Change Adaptability of cropping and Farming systems for Europe (Climate Café) (Led by INRA) WP Lead
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
- 1 Similar Profiles
Network
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Evidence review of organic farming, net zero targets and the impact of a changing climate
Topp, K., Watson, C. & Grierson, S.
20/05/23 → 11/08/23
Project: Research
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CLEAR: Collaborative Landscape planning for Enhanced Agrobiodiversity and Resilience (CLEAR)
Cole, L., Watson, C. & Topp, K.
1/03/23 → 28/02/26
Project: Research
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Challenge Based Molecular Tracking (MolTrack) Molecules to Landscapes
Holden, N., Watson, C. & Russell, W.
1/07/22 → 30/07/23
Project: Research
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AgriFood4NetZero: Plausible Pathways, Practical and Open Science for Net Zero Agrifood in the UK
1/06/22 → 30/06/25
Project: Research
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Farmers’ motivations for landrace cereal cultivation in Sweden
Ortman, T., Sandström, E., Bengtsson, J., Watson, CA. & Bergkvist, G., 27 Apr 2023, (First published) In: Biological Agriculture and Horticulture. p. 1-22Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile2 Downloads (Pure) -
Increasing crop rotational diversity can enhance cereal yields
Smith, M. E., Vico, G., Costa, A., Bowles, T., Gaudin, A. C. M., Hallin, S., Watson, C. A., Alarcòn, R., Berti, A., Blecharczyk, A., Calderon, F. J., Culman, S., Deen, W., Drury, C. F., Garcia, A. G. Y., García-Díaz, A., Plaza, E. H., Jonczyk, K., Jäck, O., Lehman, R. M., & 16 others , 23 Mar 2023, (First published) In: Communications Earth and Environment. 4, 1, 89.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile8 Downloads (Pure) -
The reflection of principles and values in worldwide organic agricultural research viewed through a crop diversification lens. A bibliometric review
Chopin, P., Menegat, A., Bergkvist, G., Dahlke, S., Jäck, O., Karlsson, I., Lana, M., Ortman, T., Reumaux, R., Öborn, I. & Watson, C. A., 14 Feb 2023, (First published) In: Agronomy for Sustainable Development. 43, 1, 23.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
Open AccessFile13 Downloads (Pure) -
Transition to legume-supported farming in Europe through redesigning cropping systems
Notz, I., Topp, CFE., Schuler, J., Alves, S., Gallardo, L., Dauber, J., Haase, T., Hargreaves, PR., Hennessy, M., Iantcheva, A., Jeanneret, P., Kay, S., Recknagel, J., Ritter, L., Vasiljević, M., Watson, CA. & Reckling, M., 17 Jan 2023, (First published) In: Agronomy for Sustainable Development. 43, 12.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Citation (Scopus)13 Downloads (Pure) -
Agro-economic prospects for expanding soybean production beyond its current northerly limit in Europe
Karges, K., Bellingrath-Kimura, S., Watson, CA., Stoddard, F., Halwani, M. & Reckling, M., Feb 2022, In: European Journal of Agronomy. 133, 9 p., 126415.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile21 Citations (Scopus)134 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. (Contributor), Collins, R. (Creator), Roderick, S. (Creator), Jones, H. (Creator) & Watson, C. (Contributor), Dryad, 20 Dec 2014
DOI: 10.5061/dryad.qj3mg, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qj3mg and one more link, http://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.qj3mg (show fewer)
Dataset
Prizes
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Associate of the Royal Agricultural Societies
Watson, Christine (Recipient), 2016
Prize: Other distinction
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Activities
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4th International Legume Society Congress
Christine Watson (Participant)
2023Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Organising a conference, workshop, ...
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"Performance of short‐term leys in organic rotations – experiences from a long‐term experiment"
Christine Watson (Speaker)
8 Feb 2023Activity: Talk, evidence or presentation types › Invited talk
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"Sustainable production systems – solutions and opportunities in Agriculture"
Christine Watson (Speaker)
7 Nov 2022Activity: Talk, evidence or presentation types › Invited talk
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22nd World Congress of Soil Science
Christine Watson (Member of programme committee)
2022Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Organising a conference, workshop, ...
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UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (External organisation)
Christine Watson (Chair)
2022 → 2025Activity: Membership types › Membership of committee