CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

The Centre supports sustainable agriculture through a unique collaboration between Lancaster University, the centre for Ecology and Hydrology and Waitrose supermarkets.

As a focus of independent, interdisciplinary research and knowledge transfer, the Centre helps boost the development of high quality food products. Among the companies partnering with the Centre is Hazeldene Food Ltd, which has participated in a research project to assess the potential benefits of using plastic covers to modify spectral quality and improve the quality of winter grown salad leaves.

Among the special strengths is the capacity to handle scientific, social and economic issues surrounding sustainable food production in the future. Many of the issues raised in the Curry report and the contentious, ongoing debate on Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform cannot be tackled without deeper knowledge and understanding.

The core partners in this development have the scientific and commercial expertise necessary to inform the debate over the recommendations of Curry and a likely future framework for the CAP.

The centre aims to harness international research expertise and play a leading role in the delivery of a prosperous and sustainable future for farming.

The Waitrose Centre is a joint initiative between the University, Waitrose and its supply chain of fresh produce.

The centre has been developed as a result of highly successful supply chain training courses. These generated ideas for areas of R&D that the supply chain felt it could not easily access, and which would benefit the partnership with Waitrose.