Project description
As a result of significant investment in research in Ireland over the past 20 years, there is now a good understanding of the factors controlling the impact of agriculture on water quality. However, in facing the challenges of sustainable intensification, climate change, and increasing demand for the delivery of ecosystem services from rural environments, there is now a need for horizon-scanning to determine to what extent existing research can provide answers to these challenges and what further research is required to balance water quality protection and agriculture production into the future.
While recent publications on agriculture and water quality have provided useful reviews of this area of research in Ireland there is a need for a more systematic review process that applies scientific rigour and objectivity to the selection and interpretation of scientific / research literature, with the aim of minimising bias and lack of reproducibility that can arise in more traditional, narrative-based literature reviews. A systematic review, as proposed in this project, is robust and transparent method of providing an evidence base for the identification of gaps and recommendations for further research requirements. In addition, the multidisciplinary nature of this research area means that prioritisation of research gaps would benefit from the input of a wide range of experts. Therefore, by making this review process participatory in nature, the knowledge and experience of a range of experts can be utilised.
This review will integrate and add-value to the existing research and place it within the context of current international literature on mitigating the impact of agriculture on water quality.
Aim of project
The aim of this project is to develop an evidence-base for further research on mitigating the impact of agriculture on water quality in Ireland in the context of achieving the targets of inter alia EU WFD and Food Harvest 2020 report. This will be completed through a systematic and participatory review process of relevant research carried out in Ireland related to both the bio-physical science of agriculture and water quality and related research on farmer engagement and behavioural change. This aim will be achieved through three key objectives:
- To conduct a systematic review of the research using a standardised and peer reviewed methodology to identify gaps and future policy drivers of research needs that integrate and add value to the existing research
- To elicit the input of a wide range of experts in this field of research with the aim of prioritising future research needs.
- To develop recommendations to inform the prioritisation of research on mitigating the impact of agriculture on water quality.
Project partners
Dr. Donnacha Doody
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/donnacha-doody/55/249/2b9
Dr Donnacha Doody is a Principal Scientific Officer with responsibility for water quality research in the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute in Northern Ireland. In this role he is involved in liaising with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, providing them with the scientific evidence underpinning the EU Nitrates Directive and Phosphorus Regulations in Northern Ireland. His research focuses on the identification of the soil and landuse management variables controlling nutrient loss from soil to water and the development of mitigation measures to decrease impacts on water quality. Previously he worked on the Lough Melvin Nutrient Reduction Programme developing catchment specific measures to reducing phosphorus loss from agriculture in the catchment. As part of this project he implemented a strategy to engage with local farmers in the development of the measures. This built on Dr. Doody previous experience of developing a method of stakeholder participation in the selection of indicators of sustainable development while working in the University of Limerick. In the past five years he has published 15 peer-reviewed in this area of research; Selected Publications;
- Doody D.G., Bailey J.S., Watson C.J. (2013) Evaluating the evidence-base for the Nitrate Directive regulations controlling the storage of manure in field heaps. Environmental Science and Policy. 29, 137-146
- Doody D.G., Archbold M., Foy B and Flynn R (2012a) Approaches to the Implementation of the Water Framework Directive: Targeting Measures at Critical Source Areas of Diffuse Pollution in Irish Catchments. Journal of Environmental Management. 93, 225-234.
- Doody, D. G., Foy, R. H., and Barry, C. D. (2012b) Accounting for the Role of Uncertainty in Declining Water Quality in an Extensively Farmed Grassland Catchment. Environmental Science & Policy. 24, 15-23
Prof. Paul Withers
www.bangor.ac.uk/senrgy/staff/withers.php.en
Prof. Paul Withers is Professor of Geography at Bangor University, UK. Over the last 25 years, his research has focused on agriculture’s impact on water quality with particular emphasis on the cycling, transfer, impacts and control of phosphorus transfer to water from point and diffuse sources in rural catchments, and implications for government policy; for example in Defra/EA/NE-funded projects such as the impact of farming practices on river chemistry and ecology (PARIS) and source control and management of phosphorus entering rivers (SCAMPER). His research contributed directly to the design and testing of the current countryside stewardship schemes (ELS and HLS) on farms and is an internationally recognised catchment scientist on diffuse pollution policy issues. In the past five years he has published 17 peer-reviewed papers in this area of research; examples of these publications are:
- Jarvie, H.P., Sharpley, A.N., Withers, P.J.A., Scott, J.T., Haggard, B.E. and Neal, C. (2013). Phosphorus mitigation to control river eutrophication: Murky waters, inconvenient truths and ‘post-normal’ science. Journal of Environmental Quality 42: 295-304.
- Dungait, JAJ, Cardenas, L., Blackwell, M., Wu, L., Withers, P.J.A., Bol, R., Chadwick, D., Murray, P.J., Macdonald, A., Whitmore, A.P., and Goulding, K. (2012). Advances in the understanding of nutrient dynamics and management in UK agriculture. Science of the Total Environment 434, 39-50.
- Haygarth, P.M., ApSimon, H., Betson, M., Harris, D., Hodgkinson, R. and Withers, P.J.A. (2009). Mitigating diffuse phosphorus transfer from agriculture according to cost and efficiency. Journal of Environmental Quality, 38, 2012-2022.
Dr. Paul Cross
http://www.bangor.ac.uk/senrgy/staff/cross.php.en
Dr. Paul Cross, is Lecturer in the Environment at Bangor University. His research portfolio encompasses a range of issues in animal health and welfare and food policy. This is evidenced in the first place by his RELU-funded research project (‘Reducing risk of E. coli O157 in rural communities’) which investigated the possibility of reducing E. coli O157 risk in rural communities. His work involves looking at different aspects of the disease such as stakeholder risk perception and behaviour; the economic costs of treating infected patients; the economic cost and acceptability to stakeholders of implementing intervention strategies in the environment: and how these opinions are presented in a digestible format to policy makers. Recent research projects have included work on the viability of intervention strategies other than vaccination in the control of Bluetongue in the UK; and estimating the prevalence rate and economic cost of sheep scab in Wales through the use of novel socio-economic methodologies; and estimating the prevalence of illegal badger killing in Wales with a view to modelling the impact on control trials.
- Jones, A.K., D.L. Jones, G. Edwards-Jones, and P. Cross. 2013. Informing decision making in agricultural greenhouse gas mitigation policy: A Best–Worst Scaling survey of expert and farmer opinion in the sheep industry. Environmental Science & Policy. 29:46-56.
- Cross, P., F.A.V. St John, S. Khan, and A. Petroczi. 2013. Innovative Techniques for Estimating Illegal Activities in a Human-Wildlife-Management Conflict. PLoS ONE. 8.
- Cross P, Rigby D, Edwards-Jones G (2012) Eliciting expert opinion on the effectiveness and practicality of interventions in the farm and rural environment to reduce human exposure to Escherichia coli O157. Epidemiology and Infection 140: 643-654;
Prof. Andrew Pullin
http://www.bangor.ac.uk/senrgy/staff/pullin.php.en
Prof. Andrew Pullin is Professor of Evidence-Based Conservation and Director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Conservation at Bangor University, UK. He is interested in the concept of evidence-based practice in environmental management, adapting methodology from the field of human health care. In 2007 he co-founded the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence (CEE, www.environmentalevidence.org), an NGO that promotes the conduct and dissemination of systematic reviews of evidence on environmental impacts of human actions and effectiveness of environmental management and policy interventions worldwide. He has contributed to over 30 systematic reviews and published over 100 peer-reviewed articles. He is currently Editor in Chief of Environmental Evidence and Editor of Biological Conservation. Selected Publications include:
- Mant, R.C., Jones, D.L., Reynolds, B., Ormerod, S.J. & Pullin, A.S. (2013) A systematic review of the effectiveness of liming to mitigate impacts of river acidification on fish and macro-invertebrates. Environmental Pollution 179, 285-293.
- Pullin, A.S., Knight, T.M. & Watkinson, A.R. (2009) Linking reductionist science and holistic policy using systematic reviews: unpacking environmental policy questions to construct an evidence-based framework. Journal of Applied Ecology 46, 970-975.
- Pullin, A.S. & Knight, T.M. (2009) Doing more good than harm: building an evidence-base for conservation and environmental management. Biological Conservation 142, 931-934.
Dr. Cara Augustenborg
http://www.linkedin.com/in/caraaugustenborg
Dr. Cara Augustenborg is managing director of Impact Research Management (Bray, Ireland) and a certified project management professional (PMP). Impact Research Management currently provides project management services to the STRIVE 2013 Ammonia2 project (under oversight of David Dodd, EPA). In the present project, Dr. Augustenborg will provide similar project management services (e.g. progress reporting, financial administration, and dissemination management) and undertake review process implementation to ensure consistency throughout. Dr. Augustenborg has formal training and experience in stakeholder communication strategies and has published peer-reviewed research in agri-environmental issues in Ireland. Relevant publications include:
- Augustenborg, C.A., L. McBennett, V. Connolly, U. Priegnitz, J. Finnan and C. Müller (2012) Farmers’ perspectives for the development of a bioenergy industry in Ireland. Global Change Biology Bioenergy. 4(5):597-610. doi: 10.1111/j.1757-1707.2011.01151.x.
- Augustenborg, C.A., S. Hepp, C. Kammann, D. Haggan, O. Schmidt, and C. Müller (2011) Biochar and earthworm effects on soil nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide emissions. Journal of Environmental Quality 41(4)1203-1209. doi:10.2134/jeq2011.0119.
- Augustenborg, C.A., O.T. Carton, R.P.O. Schulte and I.H. Suffet (2008) Response of silage yield to land application of out-wintering pad effluent in Ireland. Agricultural Water Management 95(4):367-374.
Dr. Seamus Crosse
http://greenfieldsolutions.ie/founder.php
Dr Seamus Crosse is an agricultural scientist and agricultural systems specialist with more than 30 years of experience in technical and in senior managerial capacities in agricultural research and development. His main work experience was with Teagasc (Moorepark and Oak Park). He also worked for extended periods abroad (Cornell University, USA and at the International Livestock Research Institute based in Ethiopia). He worked as Director of Agriculture Research for 6 years and as Director of Administration and Corporate Affairs for one year in Teagasc prior to resigning from Teagasc at the end of 2009. He has now set up a consultancy service called Greenfield Dairy Solutions. He is a member of the Agricultural Science Association, the Irish Grassland Association and is currently chairman of Vita (an NGO based in Ireland and programme of work based in East Africa). He has particular expertise in agriculture policy evaluation, livestock production technologies, farm production economics and in livestock farming. He is also one of the authors of the forthcoming “Farrelly’s Report” on the Environmental Analysis of Food Harvest 2020. Some relevant publications include:
- Crosse, S. (2013). Food Harvest 2020. Environmental Analysis Report, Prepared on behalf of The Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine by Philip Farrelly & Co. in association with Arup, Atkins & Brady Shipman Martin. (In Press).
- Drennan, MJ., Carson, A.F. and Crosse, S. (2005). Overview of animal production from pastures in Ireland. World Grassland Congress, Utilisation of grazed grass in temperate animal systems.
- Crosse, S. and O’Sullivan, O. (1995). The impact of milk Quotas on the Optimal Economic Adjustment of Milk Production at Farm Level. MBA Thesis in part fulfillment of requirement of MBA Degree. University College Cork.
Project Methodology
The systematic review to be conducted in this project will follow a standardised method developed by the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence (CEE: www.environmentalevidence.org), the leading authority on this methodology in environmental sciences. The method has been adopted by UK government departments as an effective approach to evidence-based policy making. The systematic reviews will involve a number of steps;
Step 1 : Preparation of Review Protocol
Following the establishment of a review question, a protocol detailing the review process will be developed and registered with CEE and submitted for expert peer review to the Environmental Evidence journal, an international peer reviewed journal dedicated to the rapid publication of systematic reviews. The Review protocol will also be circulated to national experts for comment. This is a key step in maximising the transparency and minimising the bias in the review.
Step 2 : Implementation of Systematic Review
Once the review protocol has been agreed, a systematic search for literature will be carried out using the search strategy identified in the protocol document. Documents that are identified during the search will be subjected to initial selection criteria, with selected documents going forward for more detailed review. These documents will then be critically appraised based on their design and reporting standards and susceptibility to bias. Key data from each study, related to the review question, will be selected and synthesised qualitatively and/or quantitatively to form the evidence bases for the review questions.
Step 3 : Preparation of Review Report
The review will be written up on a standardised template that will ensures high reporting standards that are transparency and repeatable. The report will again be submitted the Environmental Evidence journal for peer review and if accepted published in this open-access journal. A detailed description of this systematic review methodology can be found at http://www.environmentalevidence.org. Following on from the Systematic Review an online survey and workshop will be carried out to engage with stakeholders in the prioritisation of future research this will involve.
Step 4 : Expert Survey to prioritise the finding of the systematic review
The summary document arising out of the systemic review in WP 1 will be circulated to experts. They will be provided with access to the review protocol document from WP 1 and summary of the review findings and asked to complete an online survey to prioritise the findings of the review. In order to maximise accessibility and minimize administration and costs, the survey will be carried out using an online tool such as Google Survey or SurveyMonkey™.
Step 5 : Workshop on research priorities for mitigating the impact of agriculture on water quality in Ireland
The outputs from the systematic review and expert survey will form the basis of a workshop to discuss findings and identify final recommendations. The format of the workshop will be; a presentation of the findings of the review and online survey followed by break-out groups to discuss the bio-physical science and farmer engagement/behavioural aspects of the project. Each group will reporting back to the overall workshop audience with the aim of building a consensus on research priorities. Each group will be assigned a facilitator, with the final discussion being facilitated by the project team.
Step 6 : Final Report
The workshop will serve the dual purpose of knowledge collection and dissemination of the findings of the reviews. Arising out of WP 1 & 2 a final project report will be completed, comprising of the review protocols, the systematic review, survey methodology and findings and the recommendation for further research as agreed during the final workshop.