Rothamsted Research Harpenden

Rothamsted Research is the longest-running agricultural research institute in the world with a proud history of ground-breaking discoveries. Harpenden is the main site of Rothamsted Research, covering 330ha, in addition to two further arable farms at Woburn and Brooms Barn. The site works from gene to field to deliver sustainable and productive agricultural systems and has on-site custom designed laboratories and research facilities which are fully integrated into two working farms.

Rothamsted hosts three internationally important National Capabilities: the Rothamsted Insect Survey and the Long Term Experiments which are based in Harpenden, as well as the North Wyke Platform in Devon which has been a LEAF Innovation Centre since 2015.

Activities:

Rothamsted runs a range of field experiments, and the farms are a major service provider to the scientific community providing specific field conditions, rotational slots and different soil types across the managed arable land. Experiments are conducted on a range of crops including wheat, barley, oilseed rape, field beans and oats. In addition, miscanthus and willow is grown for biomass trials and the site is home to the UK National Willow Collection. On average Rothamsted runs 120 experiments throughout the year and harvests up to 12,000 plots during the summer.

Various other scientific facilities and services are available at Rothamsted, including the Crop Transformation and Genome Editing Unit, the Bioimaging facility, Glasshouse and Controlled Environment Units, and others.

The Long Term Experiments at Harpenden include the Park Grass experiments which have been collecting data on organic and inorganic grassland inputs since 1856 and the Broadbalk site which has been studying the effect of different organic manures and inorganic fertilizers on winter wheat yields since 1843. In addition, Rothamsted runs a range of GM and Precision Bred Organisms (PBO) field research trials and has recently begun a long-term trial comparing conventional plough vs zero till arable systems.

The site hosts events and visiting groups of various stakeholders all year round to communicate key research and promote dialogue with the farming community and the wider public.

Research Interests:

• Protecting Crops & the Environment, including IPM, Agroecology and Chemical ecology
• Sustainable Soils and Crops, Soil health, Phenotyping and Crop Development
• Plant Sciences and the Bioeconomy, including Genomics and molecular breeding, Molecular Discovery and Engineering Biology
• Intelligent Data Ecosystems, including Bioinformatics, Statistics and Data Science
• Net zero and resilient agriculture, including Agrosystems Modelling and Sociology of farming systems