Carbon Management Centre International Conference

25th Sep – 27th Sep 2013 08:50 – 17:30

Sustainable intensification: The pathway to low carbon farming?

The food security agenda is now becoming clearly aligned with a need to tackle human induced climate change. Agriculture is critical to this debate, with a need for a 70% increase in food production that is achieved in ways that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and allow farming systems to adapt to the changing climate. Sustainable intensification has been advocated as an approach that can achieve these twin objectives.

SRUC’s Carbon Management Centre is organising an international conference on 25-27 September 2013 at Edinburgh University's John McIntyre Conference Centre to debate key issues surrounding sustainable intensification.

This event will bring together natural scientists, social scientists, farm advisers and policy makers to discuss and debate the vital issues and explore how we can feed the rapidly expanding world whilst saving the environment.

Key scientific themes will include development of new metrics for defining sustainable intensification, linking the development of climate change mitigation and adaptation, and how to support growth in developing countries without increasing their emissions.

The conference will be opened by Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Environment and confirmed key speakers are:

•Prof Dominic Moran, SRUC - Approaches to defining sustainable intensification
•Prof Tim Benton, University of Leeds - The biophysical constraints of increasing food production
•Prof Nigel Scollan, Aberystwyth University - Livestock production and the feed challenge
•Prof Linda Prokopy, Purdue University - Socio-economic barriers and opportunities for change in agriculture
•Dr Andrew Barnes, SRUC - Message framing for behavioural change
•Dr Bob Rees, SRUC - Agricultural greenhouse gas mitigation
•Prof Pete Smith, University of Aberdeen - Synergies and conflicts
•Dr Robin Matthews, JHI - Sustainable intensification: latest buzzword or achievable goal?
•Dr Peter Kuikman, DLO-Alterra - Challenges in assessing the greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation options for livestock production in Europe, Africa and Latin America
•Dr Mike Roper, Defra - Sustainable Intensification Platform
•Dr Monika MacDevette, UNEP - Regional mitigation and adaptation strategies
•Dr Philip Skuce, MRI - The role of animal health in contributing to sustainable intensification
•Bill Clark, NIAB TAG - The role of genetics in protecting plant health and its significance for future CO2 emission intensities

Further Information

For more information about the event, including outline programme, keynote presentations, conference dinner, field excursions and booking pachages please visit the official conference webpages.