Lead supervisor:
Dr Kirstie O’Neill 
Start date: October 2017
Award: General
Subject Pathway:
Environmental Planning
Thematic Cluster:
Place, Environment and Development Cluster
Horticultural systems diversity: growing spaces, cropping practices and food supply
Research Aim
A mixed-method study to characterize the sustainability benefits made by diverse horticultural cropping systems to horticultural food supply through the effect of specific degrees of a) spatial crop diversity and cropping practices, b) market channel allocation and c) geospatial proximity. The purpose is to understand the sustainability benefits provided by different types of horticultural systems and the importance of routes to market and supply chains for delivering them.
Research Questions
1) Investigate the sustainability benefits demonstrated by different levels of crop diversity across different types of horticultural cropping systems.
2) Understand how and to what extent different supply chains facilitate beneficial cropping systems, including the producer-retailer geospatial proximity.
3) Analyse how these different horticultural models contribute to sustainability pathways, with a particular focus on local food supply.