Crop wild relatives are important for agriculture due to the genetic richness they possess. They have been used in plant breeding to develop high yielding varieties; varieties with improved resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, and enhanced nutritional content. Securing their conservation in the long-term is critical to enable the continuous development of crops’ varieties able to respond to future challenges. The work presented in this thesis is a contribution to the effort of understanding the ex situ conservation gaps of crop wild relatives, their expected response to climate change and their needs for conservation. Methods used in this thesis include species distribution modelling, gap analyses, a case study assessing the preliminary IUCN Red List categories, species distribution projections onto future climate change scenarios, and an estimation of the global value of crop wild relatives based on their likelihood of being used in plant breeding, and the contributions of their associated crops to human diets and agricultural production systems. The methods used here can be applied to more crop genepools for global conservation planning, and can also be adapted for analysis at the regional and national level. The results presented here are being used to improve the conservation of the wild relatives of 29 crops.

This thesis develops a participatory modelling process to study improvement in the management of irrigation efficiency, including physical and social dimensions in the context of arid and semi-arid regions of Iran. This study develops an interdisciplinary and participatory method to understand and strengthen collective decision-making in local Iranian farming systems. Specific attention is given to groundwater irrigated agricultural practices under the Iranian governance system to provide wider context. Kashan City, in central Iran is selected as a case study area for specific reasons, such as historical water use, the farmers’ rich indigenous knowledge, and successful agricultural practices under conditions of water scarcity. The accessibility and willingness of local farmers to engage in a participatory modelling process are considered. The thesis suggests the first use of role-play simulation for irrigation management practices in Iran, is an effective and insightful method of achieving adaptive management solutions. The application of an innovative participatory simulation modelling with farmers revealed their main incentives for collective irrigation practices, their capabilities to learn and evaluate the system. It is argued that management decisions have major impacts on farmers’ livelihoods and therefore it is essential to integrate farmers’ perspectives in local governance to sustain agricultural productivity.

The experiments documented in this thesis investigate the use of aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) as a viable method for the processing of influenza virus particles in a feedstock derived from embryonated hen's eggs. The virus particles are currently purified in an industrial process using stages of sucrose density gradient ultracentrifugation that produce a subunit vaccine Fluvirin which consists of the immunoprotective antigens haemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). The current purification scheme suffers process bottlenecks in particular, limitations of scale hence volumetric throughput and time taken to produce a batch that could be circumvented by ATPS. Manipulations of polyethylene glycol (PEG) molecular weight, tie-line length (TLL) and volume ratio were exploited for the design of aqueous two-phase systems. A simple two-stage process was designed in which, (i) 60 % (by mass) of contaminating proteins were eliminated in an ATPS comprising PEG 300 22.2 % w/w/ phosphate 17.9 % w/w at pH 7.5 and (ii) HA antigen was released from intact influenza particles in the presence of 1 % w/w Triton X100 in an optimised secondary ATPS comprising PEG 300 13.9 % w/w/ phosphate 24.3 % w/w, pH 7.5. The first purification stage using ATPS performed as well as the ultracentrifugation method. The material was produced with purification factor of 4.2 and intact virus recovery of 72 % within one hour, (as compared to a purification factor 4.0 and recovery of 109 % within 18 hours, using ultracentrifugation). Thus ATPS has demonstrated potential in fractionating particulate feedstocks in relatively short times, thus facilitating the circumvention of bottlnecks in the current commercial process.

Agrobiodiversity are threatened due to habitat loss, land reclamation and fragmentation, spread of diseases and pests, genetic uniformity, genetic erosion, and other human activities. Crop wild relatives (CWR) are wild species that are more or less genetically related to crops that can be used to introgress useful genes for improvement of productivity, resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses and quality of cultivated crop. These valuable resources are threatened and untapped for crop improvements. Therefore, their conservation would be valuable and will contribute to maintaining and promoting the sustainability of crop diversity, facilitating agricultural production and supporting the increasing demand for food, feed and natural resources. This thesis tackle for the first time the diversity and conservation status of CWR in North Africa region. In order to achieve this goal, different methods, approaches and techniques were used. These are identifying CWR in the region (CWR checklist), prioritize the checklist, ex situ and in situ gap analyses, species distribution modelling, threat assessment using IUCN Red List categories, climate change assessment and molecular genetic analysis of wild barley (Hordeum vulgare subsp. spontaneum (C. Koch) Thell). The outcomes will assist in lay the foundations for future ex situ and in situ conservation, and subsequent use.

The UK fresh produce industry faces a number of challenges, including new pests and diseases, foreign competition and the cost of and access to seasonal labour. ‘Innovation’ has been promoted to meet these challenges, but the sources of innovation, and what holds it back, have not been explored. This thesis aims to: 1) identify the sources of innovation in the fresh produce industry, 2) determine the barriers to innovation in the industry and 3) seek ways to improve the overall innovative capacity of the sector. It does so by using the Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS) approach as an underpinning framework within a case study design. 32 industry practitioners, including growers, technologists, researchers and retailers took part in semi-structured interviews, which were analysed using Framework Analysis. The study finds an increasingly consolidated and competitive industry, influenced heavily by retail groups and the need for constant innovation. It describes ‘types’ of innovation and their interlinked nature, as well as the inherent uncertainty around innovation and the difficulties in ‘measuring’ change. It finds that innovation often originates overseas and through experimentation or interaction with a given product or process. It describes both positive and negative communication in the industry and explores other blocking mechanisms to innovation including horizontal and vertical fragmentation, diverging innovation agendas and a “defensive” innovation culture. It also identifies a number of enabling factors for change. Interactivity and network formation are recognised as vital components of the innovation system. However, considerable emphasis is placed on non-systemic factors, such as entrepreneurialism. These findings are combined with existing literature in a functional-structural analysis to offer recommendations to bolster innovative capacity in the industry. The study makes several original contributions to knowledge, particularly with respect to the AIS approach: that innovation systems routinely extend beyond national borders, facilitated in part by another understudied issue – producer organisations – is an area for further research.

Technology and innovation pervade all aspects of modern life. In past decades, technological innovations have changed the poultry industry from what was once a small-scale back yard operation to industrialised intensive mass production farming. In Iran, technology transfer has had a varying degree of adoption amongst poultry farms. Technological advances in supply chain management and the increase in global demand for halal products has led to closer integration of halal supply chains globally. This global integration of supply chains inhibits the opportunities for many developing countries to participate in the global supply chains. The aim of this study is to investigate the specific implications and influences that technology can have on the conduct, attitudes and working relationships of individuals working on poultry farms in Iran from a halal perspective. Previous approaches to the examination of the adoption and diffusion of technology in agribusiness have focused either on systemic change initiatives shaped by technology that lead to the transformation of an entire organisation (macro level theories) or on small-scale and individual adopters in an organisation that may benefit from technological change (micro level theories). There is widely-agreed recognition of the fact that these approaches, by not fully encapsulating the interactions between the structure and individuals, have failed to fully appreciate the complexity of technological adoption within the institutions. Therefore there has been a shift towards an integrative approach that recognises the interactions and interconnections between the structure and the individuals within the social structure, which also consists of traditions, cultures, and moral codes (i.e. the halal concept). In pursuing the research aim, Giddens’ structuration theory, along with Orlikowski’s structuration model of technology adoption and Rogers’ work on adoption and diffusion of innovations, was followed as a methodological framework in examining the subjective perspectives and perceptions of a number of participants interviewed in five case study farms in Iran. In order to build an understanding of the causal links influencing the underlying concepts of adoption and diffusion of technology, qualitative analysis of interactions between agency and structure of five case study farms was conducted. This allowed for rich data collection within different contexts. In each case study, a number of respondents who had responsibilities for the adoption or diffusion of technology were interviewed. These case studies included poultry farms with a vertical supply chain, and semi-vertical and horizontal supply chains, across a mix of breeder and layer farms. In presenting the findings of the study, and to aid the process of analysis, the use of tables summarising the related case evidence in emergent theory proved essential to demonstrate the depth and detail of the findings, rather than providing a summary of the statistics. This research has contributed to theoretical knowledge, as the first study to outline the potential use of structuration theory as the meta-theory in halal poultry supply chain research, and to ongoing research by exploring some of the fundamental concepts within socially and technologically constructed social systems. Findings from the proposed technology acceptance model of this study could lead to further studies, generating ideas and recommendations for the effective implementation of technology in halal poultry production in local markets, and their preparation for integration into a global market.

Over the past two decades the expansion of soybean production in Brazil has been assessed and used as an example of the success or failure of large-scale, mechanized agricultural production. Indeed, the economic, social and environmental implications of this agricultural expansion are highly contested. Nevertheless, the complexity behind this process is rarely depicted. Instead simplistic and monolithic notions of agronegocio (agribusiness), and linear interpretations of soybean expansion are offered. These general accounts reduce agrarian dynamics, diversity of farming styles and differences in livelihoods to a homogenous phenomenon in all soybean production regions in Brazil. This limits the scope to understand processes of socio-technical, socio-economic and socio-environmental transformations and the existence of diverse pathways related to the soybean agri-food systems. This study therefore rejects the simple narratives, and argues for a more nuanced understanding of the diverse processes and dynamics between soybean farming styles and its actors' interactions as part of fast‐changing agri‐food systems. This is done through a case study approach in the municipality of Querência in the state Mato Grosso, Brazil. An examination of narratives (the ways different people talk about and construct farming and its objectives) and practices (the different farming styles and livelihood strategies) informs this analysis. In particular, the research explores how a heterogeneity of soybean farming styles – contrasting large-scale, medium-scale and smallholder soybean farmers – is constructed in a particular place, offering in turn a more nuanced account of the standard, highly polarised assessment of farming styles and their implications. It then contributes to an understanding of how policies and practices related to diverse soybean agri-food systems in Mato Grosso state are played out. This sheds light on how notions of rural development are constructed and how pathways to sustainable development are seen.

This thesis considers Participatory Crop Improvement (PCI) methodologies and examines the reasons behind their continued contestation and limited mainstreaming in conventional modes of crop improvement research within National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS). In particular, it traces the experiences of a long-established research network with over 20 years of experience in developing and implementing PCI methods across South Asia, and specifically considers its engagement with the Indian NARS and associated state-level agricultural research systems. In order to address the issues surrounding PCI institutionalisation processes, a novel conceptual framework was derived from a synthesis of the literatures on Strategic Niche Management (SNM) and Learning-based Development Approaches (LBDA) to analyse the socio-technical processes and structures which constitute the PCI ‘niche' and NARS ‘regime'. In examining the niche and regime according to their socio-technical characteristics, the framework provides explanatory power for understanding the nature of their interactions and the opportunities and barriers that exist with respect to the translation of lessons and ideas between niche and regime organisations. The research shows that in trying to institutionalise PCI methods and principles within NARS in the Indian context, PCI proponents have encountered a number of constraints related to the rigid and hierarchical structure of the regime organisations; the contractual mode of most conventional research, which inhibits collaboration with a wider group of stakeholders; and the time-limited nature of PCI projects themselves, which limits investment and hinders scaling up of the innovations. It also reveals that while the niche projects may be able to induce a ‘weak' form of PCI institutionalisation within the Indian NARS by helping to alter their institutional culture to be more supportive of participatory plant breeding approaches and future collaboration with PCI researchers, a ‘strong' form of PCI institutionalisation, in which NARS organisations adopt participatory methodologies to address all their crop improvement agenda, is likely to remain outside of the capacity of PCI development projects to deliver.

This dissertation, by comparing the agricultural biotechnology sector in the Netherlands and the UK, aims to understand the advantages and disadvantages posed by intermediary organisations for the promotion of knowledge exchange between universities and industry. An original conceptual framework has been constructed to allow a systematic analysis of intermediaries according to the functions they fulfil. The framework suggests that intermediaries can fulfil one or more of the following functions: access to human resources, access to the knowledge base, opportunities for commercialisation, access to facilities and other infrastructure, and access to networks. In order to move beyond the limitations brought about by differing nomenclature for intermediaries, the framework also proposes four ideal types of intermediaries derived from an analysis of existing intermediaries. The results of the empirical study reported here show that the roles of intermediaries are dependent on the characteristics of the sector as well as the history and configuration of existing national institutions. The policy implications of this study are several-fold. It is shown in this dissertation that application of certain dominant models of intermediaries can result in disadvantages for sectors like agricultural biotechnology that differ in important respects from the more frequently studied sectors, where these intermediaries seem to work better. This study of the agricultural biotechnology sector showed that there is space for new configurations of intermediaries such as sectoral technology transfer companies. The study highlighted that the crucial element for knowledge exchange is the production of knowledge itself. After identifying certain weaknesses in the UK agricultural sector and strengths within the Netherlands, the dissertation finds that large collaborative programs tend to facilitate knowledge exchange, while collaborative research and training can be a path for overcoming weaknesses in the system. By comparing the Netherlands and the UK, this study also showed that the presence of a strong industry is necessary for the uptake of knowledge originating from the research base.

The changing landscape of the UK’s dairy farms poses increasing challenges to farm staff in terms of monitoring individuals behaviour within increasing herds, and more intensive conditions. Failure to detect behavioural changes may be costly, both from a welfare and financial perspective, as such alterations may indicate underlying disease or other challenges with corresponding impacts on yield and animal well-being. Social behaviour may provide a useful indicator of normal animal activity, and subsequent changes with health status, particularly if automatically monitored to reduce labour. This thesis applies a local positioning system (LPS) to collect social proximities of dairy cows, to investigate the social structure of a housed herd via social network analysis, and any relationship with traits or health. The LPS was validated by comparing sensor reported, with human observed proximities, and accurately detected proximities at lying, feeding and in direct interactions. Use of this data to construct social networks indicated a highly connected structure, with some substructure becoming evident after filters were applied. An approaching significant effect of parity on sociality was found, but stage of lactation had no effect. Temporally, the network showed some stability but a much greater amount of variation. When divided into ‘functional area’ (feeding, non-feeding and milking), the non-feeding area of the shed yielded the most loosely connected network with likely most interest for further analysis due to its potential basis in choice, as opposed to forced proximity. In these functional area networks, some evidence exists for homophily (association with similar cows – based on parity and days in milk). Finally, sociality was investigated alongside health status, with evidence for a tendency for greater betweenness in lame cows than non-lame. The results suggest that sociality is a highly variable trait, and that further investigation is required to assess its suitability as a disease indicator.