Ruth is a Research Fellow in the School of Biology at the University of Leeds. An ecologist at heart, her passion is to use knowledge and ideas from ecological systems in agricultural systems, working towards regenerative farming, whilst maintaining a resilient and productive farming system. Her role in FixOurFood is to quantify the impacts of regenerative farming practices on the soil, plants, interacting organisms and atmosphere. She completed her PhD in 2015, measuring the impact of predicted changes in UK rainfall patterns on barley crop production, plant defence as well as insect pests and their natural enemies. During her time as a Post-doctoral Research Associate, she worked at the University of Sheffield investigating the role of hedgerows and grass leys in supporting soil biodiversity in neighbouring agricultural fields, multifunctional landscape approaches and growth/survival trade-offs in different grass species. For the last three years she has worked as a Research Consultant at ADAS where she delivered research for the agricultural sector as well as worked directly with farmers in the UK, USA and Canada, trying to narrow the gap between actual and potential yields.
Email: R.Wade@leeds.ac.uk