Lecturers

Lecture No 1: Monday 23rd March 2015

'Darwinian Agriculture: Evolutionary Tradeoffs as Opportunities'

Professor R Ford Denison, Adjunct Professor in Ecology and Evolution, University of Minnesota; Professor Emeritus, UC Davis.

R. Ford Denison studied ecology at the Evergreen State College, Washington and earned a PhD in Crop Science from Cornell University. After postdoctoral research at UC Davis and UCLA, he did lab and field research with USDA for several years, before returning to UC Davis as a faculty member. There, he lectured in crop ecology and directed the Long Term Research in Agricultural Sustainability (LTRAS) experiment, which explores the long-term impacts of crop rotation, farming systems and resource-use on agricultural sustainability over a period of 100 years.

In 2012 Professor Denison published his book Darwinian Agriculture, which explores new approaches to improving agriculture, inspired by nature and informed by evolutionary biology.

Professor Denison is now Adjunct Professor in Ecology & Evolution at the University of Minnesota. He is also a Fellow in the College of Agriculture, advising Minnesota’s three-site long-term agricultural research network.

Series 2015

Overview

Darwinian Agriculture - Evolutionary Tradeoffs as Opportunities - Part 1

Darwinian Agriculture - Evolutionary Tradeoffs as Opportunities - Part 2