Christine Watson

I am a guest professor at SLU based in the Department of Crop Production Ecology at Uppsala working with Göran Bergkvist and Ingrid Öborn. My home institution is SRUC in Scotland UK. My research focuses on soil and nutrient management in a wide range of organic and conventional agricultural systems. I am particularly interested in crop diversity and how this can contribute to the development of resilient agricultural systems.

In 2019 I was the KSLA Wallenberg professor at SLU and continue to visit SLU on a regular basis.

I am part of the FORMAS Constraints project with Lund University which addresses the expansion of organic farming in the Swedish plains. I also work in the Horizon Europe Intercrop Values project which includes SLU partners in Alnarp. Through my research in Scotland I also work in the EU MIXED project led by Aarhus Unversity. Other European projects include Mi Bicycle (led by Wageningen University) and the CLEAR project (led by ZALF).

I represent my UK insitution (SRUC) in the GCUA 2030 (Global Challenges University Alliance) led from SLU

I currently co-supervise 3 PhD students at SLU:

Tove Ortman

Rafaelle Reumaux

Fatima El Khosht

Lagerquist, E., Vogeler, I., Kumar, U., Bergkvist, G., Lana, M., Watson, C.A., Parson, D. (2024) Assessing the effect of intercropped leguminous service crops on main crops and soil processes using APSIM NG. Agricultural Systems 216, 103884 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2024.103884

van Loon, M.P., Alimagham, S., Pronk, A., Fodor , N., Ion, V., Kryvoshein, O.,  Ryvobok, O.,  Marrou, H., Mihail, R.,  Mínguez, M.I. , Pulina, A., Reckling, M., Rittler, L.,   Roggero, P.P., Stoddard, F.L., Topp, C.F.E., van der Wel, J., Watson, C. & van Ittersum, M.K. (2023) Grain legume production in Europe for food, feed and meat-substitution. Global Food Security 39, 100723 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2023.100723

Reumaux, R., Chopin, P., Bergkvist, G., Watson, C.A. and Öborn, I., (2023). Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) data allows identification of crop sequence patterns and diversity in organic and conventional farming systems. European Journal of Agronomy, 149, p.126916.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eja.2023.126916 

Daykin, G.M., Aizen, M.A., Barrett, L.G., Bartlett, L.J., Batáry, P., Garibaldi, L.A., Güncan, A., Gutam, S., Maas, B., Mitnala, J., Montaño-Centellas, F., Muoni, T., Öckinger, E., Okechalu, O., Ostler, R., Potts, S.G., Rose, D.C.,  Topp, C.F.E., Usieta, H.O., Utoblo, O.G., Watson, C.,  Zou, Y., Sutherland, W.J. & Hood, A.S.C. (2023) AgroEcoList 1.0: A checklist to improve reporting standards in ecological research in agriculture. PLoS ONE 18(6): e0285478. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285478

Ortman, T., Sandström, E., Bengtsson, J., Watson, C.A. and Bergkvist, G., 2023. Farmers’ motivations for landrace cereal cultivation in Sweden. Biological Agriculture & Horticulture, pp.1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/01448765.2023.2207081

Smith, M.E., Vico, G., Costa, A., Bowles, T., Gaudin, A.C.M., Hallin, S., Watson, C.A., Alarcòn, R., Berti, A., Blecharczyk, A., Calderon, F.J., Culman, S., Deen, W., Drury, C.F., Garcia y Garcia, A., García-Díaz, A., Hernández Plaza, E., Jonczyk, K., Jäck, O., Lehman, R.M., Montemurro, F.,  Morari, F., Onofri, A., Osborne, S.L.,  Pasamón, J.L.T., Sandström, B., Santín-Montanyá, I., Sawinska, Z., Schmer, M.R., Stalenga, J., Strock, J., Tei, F., Topp, C.F.E., Ventrella, D., Walker, R.L. & Bommarco, R. (2023) Increasing crop rotational diversity can enhance cereal yields.  Communications Earth Environment 4, 89 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00746-0

Chopin, P.G.B., Menegat, A., Bergkvist, G., Dahlke, S., Jäck, O., Karlsson, I., Lana, M., Ortman, T., Remeaux, R., Öborn, I. & Watson, C.A. (2023) The reflection of principles and values in worldwide organic agricultural research viewed through a crop diversification lens. A bibliometric review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-023-00875-y

Reckling, M, Albertsson, J., Vermue, A., Carlsson, G., Watson, C.A., Justes, E., Bergkvist, G., Jensen, E.S., Topp, C.F.E. (2022). Diversification improves the performance of cereals in European cropping systems. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 42, 118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-022-00850-z

Willoughby, C., Topp, C.F.E, Hallett, P., Stockdale, E.A., Walker, R.L., Hilton, A. & Watson, C.A. (2022) New approach combining food value with nutrient budgeting provides insights into the value of alternative farming systems. Food and Energy Security https://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.427

Lagerquist, E., Menegat, A., Dahlin, A.S., Parsons, D., Watson, C., Ståhl, P., Gunnarsson, A. & Bergkvist, G., 2022. Temporal and Spatial Positioning of Service Crops in Cereals Affects Yield and Weed Control. Agriculture, 12(9), p.1398. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12091398

MacLaren, C., Mead, A., van Balen, D., Claessens, L., Etana, A., de Haan, J., Haagsma, W., Jäck, O., Keller, T., Labuschagne, J., Myrbeck, Å., Necpalova, M., Nziguheba, G., Six, J., Strauss, J., Swanepoel, P., Thierfelder, C., Topp, C., Tshuma, F., Verstegen, H., Walker, R., Watson, C., Wesselink, M. & Storkey, J. (2022). Long-term evidence for ecological intensification as a pathway to sustainable agriculture. Nature Sustainability https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00911-x

Meunier, C., Casagrande, M., Rosiès, B., Bedoussac, L., Topp, C.F.E., Walker, R.L., Watson, C.A. & Martin, G. (2022). Interplay: A game for the participatory design of locally adapted cereal–legume intercrops. Agricultural Systems 201, 103438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2022.103438

https://pure.sruc.ac.uk/en/persons/christine-watson

https://www.slu.se/en/collaboration/international/slu-global/global-challenges-university-alliance/