Elias Maritan

Elias Maritan holds a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Geography from Queen Mary, University of London and a MSc in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Udine, Italy. He is a Research Associate at Harper Adams University and works under the supervision of Prof. Karl Behrendt and Prof. James Lowenberg-DeBoer. His research uses multi-criteria linear programming methods to analyse economic, environmental, and social implications of innovative agricultural technologies.

His first peer-reviewed publication focused on economic thresholds of farmer supervision of crop robots. This study was part of the project entitled “Development of a UK Crop Robot Code of Practice” coordinated by the Centre for Effective Innovation in Agriculture (CEIA) and funded by the Elizabeth Creak Trust. This publication supported the development of the BS 8646:2023 standard "Use of autonomous mobile machinery in agriculture and horticulture. Code of practice" (https://standardsdevelopment.bsigroup.com/projects/2022-00272#/section). 

Elias is currently involved in the Digitalisation for Agroecology project (D4AgEcol | https://d4agecol.eu/) co-funded by Innovate UK and the EU’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme. The overall objective of D4AgEcol is to provide knowledge for the European transition to agroecological farming. D4AgEcol will show the potentials of digitalisation as an enabler for agroecological farming systems in Europe based on available knowledge and actors and stakeholders' co-innovation capacity. Partners from seven countries across a wide spectrum of pedoclimatic zones in Europe will assemble a holistic evaluation of digital tools and technologies. This will be based on the UN FAO's 10 elements of agroecology, economic assessments and stakeholders' investigations about perceived drivers and barriers to technology adoption.

Professional Memberships

• Agricultural Economics Society
• International Society of Precision Agriculture