SOAR is a research school. In addition to the focus on PhD students, SOAR also includes graduates, postdocs and supervisors in the activities and networks. This is important because they also constitute the research environment, in which the PhD student is under education. SOAR wants to contribute to the professional discussions with a special focus on the organic food and farming systems.
The research interests of SOAR cover a wide range of subjects within organic agriculture and food systems:
The objectives are to investigate the relationships between & effect of inter- & intra- annual climate variability as well as climate change scenarios on crop growth, yield and quality of cereal cropsandthe influence of projected climate scenarios on nitrogen cycling and dynamics in winter wheat cropping system
A combination of experimental and modelling approaches will be applied. Crop growth, yield and quality of winter wheat, N cycling and leaching under different soil moisture and temperature on JB4 soil type will be investigated under semi-field conditions. The ability of two crop simulation models (FASSET and APSIM) to simulate the effect of climate change will be investigated and compared using the semi-field experimental data and experimental data from literature. The data sets on climate change experiments from within Europe will also be used for inter-comparisons of above mentioned two models.
Background
Anthropogenic climate change is expected to positively influence agricultural productivity in Northern Europe through introduction of new crop species and varieties, higher crop production and expansion of suitable areas for crop cultivation. On the other hand, the climate scenario 2075 for Denmark predicts extended summer droughts, although there may be higher frequency of heavy winter and summer rainfalls but with only small increases in annual rainfall. This would not only affect crop yield and quality by direct effects of climate on crop development and growth, but also by indirect effects through changes in nutrient cycling, (nitrogen) in soil, increased risks of pests and diseases, and increased variability due to summer droughts and wet conditions during autumn affecting harvesting conditions greatly influencing yield and quality.
