The general hypotheses are that ‘sustainable’ management, in combination with new crop varieties, will:

• (i) maintain yield quality and yield stability at lower levels of agrochemical inputs
• (ii) reduce GHG emissions and nutrient leaching from the system
• (iii) enhance soil quality and arable biodiversity.

The Centre for Sustainable Cropping (CSC) will provide a broad framework for research on a wide range of system components from crop physiological stress responses to arable biodiversity and soil microbial function.

The aims of the CSC are as follows.

• To design a sustainable cropping system that tests the optimisation of inputs and ecosystem processes.
• To assess the effect of the sustainable system on long-term trends in yield and system health relative to standard conventional practice.
• To provide a field-scale test-bed for new ‘sustainable’ crop varieties.
• To provide a demonstration site for knowledge transfer, exchange and education activities.