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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 18h

Intercropping legumes within primary crops and using grasses at field margins can reduce crop pests because of the respective effects these plants have on target species.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 18h

Olufemi Adesina is working with International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Kenya on how the push-pull approach in agroecological practices can reduce crop pest pressure.

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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 18h

This research is important because it can help inform farmers' use of pest and disease control methods, especially in areas where agricultural land is expanding and harmful chemical pesticides are increasingly overused as a pest management strategy.

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

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Farmers and researchers install equipment to capture crop pests

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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 18h

Under the FoSTA Health project, Hemant Tripathi & Steve Sait are working with international partners to explore the role of woodlands in maintaining natural predator populations.

Woodlands within agricultural landscapes can reduce risk of pests (mosquitoes & ticks) within central Zambia.

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Woman with a net to catch pests in a field

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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 18h

A key focus of agroecological practice is understanding ecosystem functions.

Researchers are studying how plant-level treatments, field-level crop compositions & landscape-scale structures & vegetation interact to influence crop pest & disease risks.

fosta-health.eu/index.php/bl...

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Fall armyworm on a green leaf that has been partly eaten

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Reposted by Global Food and Environment Institute

Horizons Institute @horizonsinstitute.bsky.social · 1d

What are the challenges that interdisciplinary researchers face in communicating their work, and how can they find support in finding solutions to these?

In this new blog post, @victoriahood89.bsky.social and @kariswelch.bsky.social share insights from nine months of comms drop-in surgeries 👇

Providing responsive communications advice for interdisciplinary researchers

Throughout 2025, the Interdisciplinary Research Communications Group (IDRC) have provided online monthly drop-in sessions for Leeds…

medium.com

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Reposted by Global Food and Environment Institute

Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 7d

Join us on Wednesday 15th October to hear Dr Mapenzie Tauzie on 'Negotiating Empowerment: Exploring how women balance agriculture, household responsibilities and social networks in rural Malawi'.

Register: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/womens-eve...

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Women's everyday experiences in Malawi agriculture and social relations

Negotiating Empowerment: Exploring how women balance agriculture, household responsibilities and social networks in rural Malawi

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 6d

Find out more about the work to drive civic change across local food systems:

Effie's research profile environment.leeds.ac.uk/see/staff/14...

Sara's research profile environment.leeds.ac.uk/geography/st...

Sonja / FoodWise profile foodwiseleeds.org/about/

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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 6d

Dr Effie Papargyropoulou engages with policymakers at local & national level, providing research evidence to support food policy change.

She co-developed a tool to measure social, environmental & economic impact of local food initiatives that transform urban food systems by empowering citizens

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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 6d

Prof @sgonzalezsara.bsky.social focuses on transforming the food system by collaborating with local groups & policymakers to support civic change.

She’s on the FoodWise Steering Group, which recently focused on public food procurement—schools & hospitals buying nutritious, locally produced food.
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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 6d

Sonja Woodcock is the Coordinator at FoodWise Leeds.

FoodWise collaborates with GFEI, Leeds City Council, & third sector & community partners to build a good food movement. Together we produced the Leeds Food Strategy – a citywide approach for health, food security, the economy, & net zero.

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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 6d

Food justice: equitable access to healthy, sustainable & affordable food.

Our researchers work with community-based partners to explore how research can have real terms impact on place-based, community-led food initiatives.

We interviewed 2 researchers & a community-based partner to hear more 👇

Market stall selling fresh fruit at Leeds outdoor market

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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 7d

This webinar is part of our #WorldFoodDay campaign & draws on participatory, multi-stage research in rural Malawi.

It explored how women navigate empowerment, agriculture, nutrition & daily resource negotiations, while sustaining social ties & family wellbeing.

See you there!

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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 7d

Join us on Wednesday 15th October to hear Dr Mapenzie Tauzie on 'Negotiating Empowerment: Exploring how women balance agriculture, household responsibilities and social networks in rural Malawi'.

Register: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/womens-eve...

👇

Women's everyday experiences in Malawi agriculture and social relations

Negotiating Empowerment: Exploring how women balance agriculture, household responsibilities and social networks in rural Malawi

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 7d

During our International Food Systems Research Week, we welcomed visitors from South Africa, Zambia, Malawi & Tanzania—spanning academia, industry & government.

We focused on research & innovation collaboration opportunities across academia, industry & key policy themes medium.com/globalfoodle...

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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 7d

At the University of Leeds Research Farm, researchers work with UK farmers to co-design #RegenerativeAgriculture trials under the FixOurFood programme.

These trials explore how regen ag impacts soil & crop health—and the real-world challenges farmers face 🌱

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVDn...

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FixOurFood regenerative agriculture trials at University of Leeds Research Farm | Dr Ruth Wade (1)

YouTube video by GFEI, University of Leeds

www.youtube.com

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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 7d

Thirze Hermans explored farmer-led approaches to soil health in Malawi by co-developing soil health evaluation tools, blending local farmers' knowledge with on-farm research trials to improve understanding of contextualised soil nutrient processes.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Farmer in Malawi bends over to check crops

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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 7d

But wider than this, it is a philosophy of human connectedness to nature, & at a political level, it challenges current economic agendas.

Therefore, to meaningfully & responsibly contribute to Africa’s agroecology transition, researchers need to think differently about agricultural research.
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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 7d

Throughout October, we are spotlighting some of the ways our researchers are supporting agroecological transitions in Africa.

Agroecology enhances food production resilience to extreme weather events & pest infestations, and improves biodiversity, soil health & nutritional properties of foods.
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Woman farm workers in Africa, bending to tend to crops in the field

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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 12d

Staff & students met with employees & business owners across Whitby, Scarborough, & Hull, from growing seaweed off the Yorkshire coast, a Lobster Hatchery, a food bank, & an urban community garden in Hull.

Find out more about the course: courses.leeds.ac.uk/j786/sustain...

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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 12d

As part of the course, students have access to world-leading University of Leeds researchers whose research spans the global food system.

This film 👇, produced by Dr Rory Padfield, captures the 2024/25 cohort's summer 2025 fieldtrip to the Yorkshire Coast.

youtu.be/4b9-UN5etCw?...

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MSc Sustainable Food Systems and Food Security Fieldtrip to Yorkshire Coast 2025

YouTube video by GFEI, University of Leeds

youtu.be

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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 12d

Did you know we offer an MSc course in Sustainable Food Systems and Food Security?

The course offers an interdisciplinary and holistic systems-thinking approach to understand and evaluate the complexity of the food system.

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A shopping trolley full of food inside a supermarket

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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 15d

New blog by Ankitha Manohar, PhD student @universityofleeds.bsky.social

During recent fieldwork in the Philippines, Ankitha used GFEI funds to give local communities disposable cameras to document their meals and tell their individual food stories.

Read her reflections: medium.com/globalfoodle...

Fisherman holding up his catch next to a boat in the Philippines

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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 20d

The authors stress that success will require integrating farmers, policymakers, industry, & researchers in long-term, co-designed experiments with robust metrics to track progress.

Read the issue: royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rstb/202...
Read the paper: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Measuring the socio-economic and environmental outcomes of regenerative agriculture across spatio-temporal scales | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Regenerative agriculture aims to produce food while simultaneously improving soil health, supporting biodiversity, reducing input costs and enhancing climate resilience. Evidence on its environmental and socio-economic impacts across different systems and ...

royalsocietypublishing.org

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Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 20d

The paper highlights challenges associated with #RegenAg research incl:
- Short-term funding vs. long-term transitions (10+ years needed for many outcomes)
- Need for better metrics & scoring systems to benchmark regenerative progress
- Policy & industry engagement are essential to scale adoption
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Aerial shot of the regenerative agriculture trials

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