Overview

Producing enough food while leaving space for nature will be one of the major challenges faced by humanity over the course of this century, particularly as the climate continues to warm. Producing higher-value crops typically requires less land, permitting more land to be devoted to conserving biodiversity. This research project will help develop and apply the latest high-resolution microclimate models to identify places that are most climatically conducive to growing a range of novel crops, using Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly as a case study. It hopes to help resolve conflicts between farming and biodiversity and suggest practical solutions to the issue food security which can be applied globally. I am supervised by Dr. Ilya Maclean and Professor Kevin Gaston.