Zoom into Soil: Long-term Experiments

In this webinar, Prof. Paul Harris and Dr. Catherine Broomfield discuss long-term experiments, in collaboration with BSSS Corporate Member, the Ecological Continuity Trust (ECT).

Professor Paul Harris is Principal Research Scientist at Rothamsted Research and will speak on ‘Challenges facing long-term data platforms to inform on innovations in sustainable and resilient agriculture.’ Paul has research interests in the development and application of statistical and mathematical models for spatio-temporal agroecological processes in terms of sustainable and resilience agriculture. Paul has been the project lead for the North Wyke Farm Platform, National Bioscience Research Infrastructure since 2017. Paul has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers (6000+ citations; h-index 39).

The North Wyke Farm Platform in southwest UK is a long-term experiment (established 2010) for the study of sustainable and resilient agricultural systems. After 15 years of operation, this talk reflects upon lessons learnt from the operation of the platform, its sensor deployment, its data management, its open data release, and the role of long-term data infrastructure in the application of digital science to agri-environmental research.

Dr. Catherine Broomfield is a member of Pasture for Life, and a board member since 2022. She farmed 100% pasture-fed beef and sheep as part of an integrated nature-friendly farming system on her farm in Devon before turning to applied research in academia. After completing her PhD in sociology of agriculture in 2024, she joined the Centre Rural Policy Research at University of Exeter, her main research interest is in understanding the factors that influence farming’s relationship with wider society.