Award details

FACCE-JPI Knowledge Hub MACSUR Partner 65

Reference	BB/K008854/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Andrew Whitmore
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	Rothamsted Research
Department	Sustainable Soils and Grassland Systems
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	65,654
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	01/10/2012
End date	30/09/2015
Duration	36 months

Abstract

The knowledge hub exists to bring together expertise in Europe both within communities of crop, livestock and trade modellers and also between them. The activies of the hub fall into the following categories: 1. Assessment of the current situation regarding models, data and the inter-relationships between them. 2. Development and enhancement of existing models by sharing paractice and knowledge. 3. Model intercomparison using high quality data sets. 4. Identification and development of necessary steps to link models. 5. Use of models to simulate representative scenarios and to determine level and source of uncertainty in the models. It is envisaged that all of these activities will take place both within and beyond the three research themes of the knowledge hub. Workpackages therefore been designed within the theme to address the challenges in a whay which is appropriate to the type of models which exist within the themes. Additionally three cross cutting workpackages will be run in order to co-ordicnate the activities across themes and to develop an integrated assessment of the impacts of climate change on European agriculture.

Summary

FACCE MACSUR focuses on modelling European agriculture with climate change for food security. The work is organized in three themes on crop, livestock and trade modeling. The partnership consists of 73 partners from 16 countries all over Europe. The overarching challenge is to develop a pan-European capability in the development, use and interpretation of models to perform risk assessments of the impacts of climate change on European agriculture. To address this the following challenges must be met: 1. Identify and address a range of issues between models in different themes to enable their closer integration including issues of scale and data processing. 2. Train a new generation of scientists to work across models which contribute to greater integration of models. This challenge can be described as focusing on the creation of integrated modelers as opposed to integrated models. 3. Determine the contribution that can be made to reducing uncertainty over the impacts of climate change on European food security by adopting integrated models of crop production, animal production and trade.

Impact Summary

The project aims to improve our understanding of the uncertainties surrounding the ways in which European agriculture will adapt to and mitigate climate change. It is therefore of direct relevance to policy makers and the producers and users of food in the European Union. The project is very high profile and is certain to attract considerable interest from these communities as it progresses. In order to ensure that we able to meet this demand for information we will integrate dissemination within the project. A website is under development and it is intended that stakeholders will be involved in the major events of the project, beginning with the kick-off meeting and concluding with the final conference. Beyond Europe, it is expected that the activities of this project will also contribute to the parallel, global modelling efforts of the AgMIP consortium.

Committee	Research Committee B (Plants, microbes, food & sustainability)
Research Topics	Crop Science, Plant Science
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security & Climate Change (FACCE JPI) [2012-2014]
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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