Management of soil and water Water is one of our most precious resources, and soil is essential for farming. Unfortunately, the knowledge around best practice for managing soil and water is limited. From finding the right amount of water to irrigate crops, to suggesting crops that can stabilise soil, we're helping farmers to continue growing food that feeds us and sustains them. Cookies on the Harper Adams University website
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Research with real-world impact
By setting out to tackle some of the biggest challenges our world is facing, our research gets applied in the UK and beyond.
Although the work we do spans many different areas, all of it comes back to a challenge that we all face - how can we manage the world's natural resources as our population, and our demands on our planet, grow?
Management of soil and water Water is one of our most precious resources, and soil is essential for farming. Unfortunately, the knowledge around best practice for managing soil and water is limited. From finding the right amount of water to irrigate crops, to suggesting crops that can stabilise soil, we're helping farmers to continue growing food that feeds us and sustains them. 
Better plant health, better crops Pests and disease cost farmers crops, income and even their livelihoods. Our research is finding new ways to fight these threats without impacting on the environment. From assessing the mustard plant's ability to ward off insects, to helping African smallholders by breeding disease-resistant plants, we're paving the way towards better plant health. 
Farming more precisely With the pressures on farmers increasing, employing technology to help them farm more precisely is the way forward. Our research is discovering and developing new ways to do just that. We're programming autonomous robots that can monitor crop health and developing drones that can locate straying sheep. And that's just the start. 
Smarter livestock farming Learning how we can better manage livestock not only improves the welfare of our animals, it impacts the environment, too. Cows produce methane which contributes to our greenhouse gas emissions, so we've found ways to reduce this through diet changes. Importing soya-bean based feeds for chickens also adds to our carbon footprint, so we've developed new diets to avoid this. 
Safer and healthier food / improving human health and wellbeing The UK's standards for food safety are excellent, but as regulations tighten, we're working hard to find innovative ways to improve them. Our research has looked at everything from developing rapid tests to identify the UK's biggest cause of food poisoning, to reducing bacterial contamination in ready-to-eat salads. 
Bioenergy and renewable resources Bioenergy has the potential to reduce costs, carbon emissions and the strain on our non-renewable energy sources. Our work has already seen an uptake of bioenergy in the West Midlands and our long-term research projects are discovering even more innovative sources of biofuels. 
Engineering our future Innovation in engineering can have huge impacts on everything from farming to motorsports. Our research in this area covers a whole range of applications, from the improving the performance of motors to using lasers for weed management. 
Rural affairs and management From understanding the impacts that different farm management techniques have on biodiversity, to understanding the roots of rural crime, our work is shaping both policy and practice when it comes to rural affairs and management. 
Pedagogy and teaching excellence We're leading the way when it comes to teaching excellence. By adopting new technologies and pioneering teaching methods our research has improved the education of students on our own campus and in other institutions across the world. 
Animal health, behaviour and welfare Covering everything from veterinary practice, livestock farming and zoology, to entomology and animal welfare, our animal sciences research is vast. We're shaping the future care of all creatures. 
Managing the agricultural environment Our agri-environment research covers a lot of ground - literally. From pesticides to post-harvest technologies, we're developing new ideas and techniques that help farmers, crops and the wider environment to thrive. 
Food and consumer sciences