Thomas Prade

My scientific interest is in integration of agricultural production of food, feed, bio-materials and bioenergy. Thus, my research aims at finding new ways and at developing novel production concepts to minimise social, environmental and economic costs and maximising sustainability of the overall agricultural system. In order to achieve a holistic view on imminent problems in agriculture, this research focuses on the interaction of energy, environment, technology and economy.

In my research I focus on the following approaches

1. New crops that do not compete with main agricultural food and feed crops, e.g. intermediate crops and crops grown on marginal lands, wetlands and lands taken out of normal production.
2. Multifunctional crops that compete with food and feed crops, but which still contribute to improve the overall sustainability of the agricultural system, e.g. grass-clover crops that contribute to soil organic carbon and therefore potentially increase soil productivity.
3. Multi-purpose crops, where different crop parts are used for different applications, i.e. for food, feed, material and energy, in a biorefinery approach.
4. Soil amendment with organic residues for recycling of plant nutrients and organic carbon in order to close nutrient and carbon loops by.
5. Production chain assessment with product quality feedback resulting in better interaction between suppliers/growers and buyers/end-users.

I follow an interdisciplinary approach to systems analysis in cases where such an approach is likely to result in fundamental insights. For example, this may mean the use of a variety of tools for systems analysis (e.g. energy balances, LCA, soil carbon balances, nutrient balances, techno-economic assessments, GIS-based data acquisition and handling), combined with new input data from field experiments (statistical analyses).

• Sustainable production systems in a global perspective (15 hp, period 3)
• Environmental issues – Introduction to LCA and LCA group work
• Biogas theory
• Urban agriculture - systems perspective

2021-2025 Formas project on Removing agricultural residues as feedstock for the growing bioeconomy – efficiency of intermediate crops to minimize negative environmental consequences

2022-2025 Swedish Energy Agency, project on Green2 Feed – Sustainable animal feed and biogas from green leaves

2021-2025 Formas project on Improving sustainability in urban development by recognizing the carbon costs of urban trees

2021- 2024 Formas project on GreenLeaFood - Added food value from green leaves

2020-2022 Partnerskap Alnarp, project on Proactive drought management - a model-based approach to drought management in Swedish crop production

2020-2022 SLF project via Partnerskap Alnarp on More ley in arable cropping systems for climate efficient primary production

2020-2021 Partnerskap Alnarp project on Production of sustainable planting pods for growing horticultural and ornamental crops

2019-2022 EIP-project on a Web-based tool for choosing intermediate crops

2019-2020 Swedish Board of Agriculture project on Influence of establishment date on summer cover crops on soil organic carbon contribution and weed controlling properties

2017-2020 Interregprojekt BioBIGG - Bioeconomy in the South Baltic Area: Biomass-based Innovation and Green Growth

2018-2019 Partnerskap Alnarp project Milk production with extensively processed silage for increased forage intake and increased resource efficiency

2017-2019 Partnerskap Alnarp project Intermediate cover crops as potential protein source

2017-2019 Partnerskap Alnarp project Evaluation of intermediate cover crops for weed control

2016-2018 SLF-project Turning catch crops into intermediate crops for higher productivity and reduced N and P losses

Education

Academic and professional experiences