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Agustin del Prado

Agustin del Prado

Choosing from among the host of strategies for mitigation on greenhouse gas emissions is not easy. One needs to consider competing environmental priorities, social and economic factors, and commercial and political interests.

We need to study such strategies using systems-based and multidisciplinary approaches to provide policy with the most balanced choices."

  • Position:
    Associate researcher
  • Main Research Line:
    Developing system-based modelling approaches to: (i) mitigate GHG emissions from land use and (ii) assess the impact of climate change and land use changes on services from agriculture.
  • Expected Results:
    Development of an integrated systems modelling approach in order to advance fundamental understanding of complex land use systems to underpin practical solutions to major challenges such as the reduction of GHG with acceptable trade-offs. This will account for synergies of feedback and feed-forward interactions between climate change, agriculture, land use change, and food and energy production.
  • BC3 joining data:
    07/01/2009.
  • Contact information:
    Email adress: agustin.delprado@bc3research.org
    Contact phone: +34 94-401 46 90

CURRICULUM VITAE

  • Agustin del Prado holds a PhD in Biological Sciences at the University of the Basque Country.
  • He has been working at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER, UK) (now North Wyke Research) since 2002 as a post-doc and senior environmental agricultural modeller. Before he worked at NEIKER institute and AB-DLO (now Plant Research International, The Netherlands) studying the effect of management, soil and climatic conditions on N2O emissions from soils and nitrate leaching losses to waters from farming systems.
  • His best example in the systems modelling area is the development of the modelling framework SIMSDAIRY. SIMSDAIRY is a tool that integrates multiple farm aspects from different disciplines into a systems approach (e.g. environmental impacts, economics, soil quality, animal welfare, biodiversity, landscape aesthetics and milk quality) aiming at capturing the key factors and key processes that affect dairy farm sustainability. This approach provides significant opportunities to explore systems where conflicting targets of production and environmental constraints (e.g. EU Nitrate Directive, GHG, pollution swapping) can be balanced. Other examples are models to simulate and optimise N management from agriculture such as NGAUGE (field scale) or LANAS framework (landscape scale).
  • His models allow optimisation based on selected criteria such as production, economics and/or environment; thereby, being particularly useful to test hypotheses on determining which existing [e.g. manure application techniques) and/or future (e.g. new plant/animal traits to decrease N2O] technological advances, and/or existing management (e.g. site-specific N fertilizer application) strategies can be best used to balance particular combinations of farm goals (e.g. moderate the impact of agriculture on climate change, produce good quality product, farm profitability, low water pollution).
  • His strong reputation for systems modelling is reflected in, for example, his membership of the steering group of the international Livestock Emissions and Abatement Research Network (LEARN), his participation in working group discussions on UK-Australasian collaboration to reduce agricultural GHG (British High Commission, New Zealand) and his participation in an international representation for young researchers to understand the impacts of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems (British Council-CSIC Spain).
  • He has published in a variety of international journals including Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment, Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems, Journal of Agricultural Science, Livestock Science, Grass and Forage Science, Water Air and Soil Pollution, Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry and Journal of Plant Physiology.
  • He has participated in several projects related to climate change issues, examples include:
    • Structuring Infrastructures for the Analysis and Experimentation on Ecosystems (ANAEE). (EU, FP7).
    • Controlling Gaseous N Oxide Emissions from Grassland Farming Systems in Europe. (EU, FAIR).
    • Ruminant nutrition regimes to reduce methane and nitrogen emissions (DEFRA, UK).
    • Implications of farm-scale methane mitigation measures for long-term national methane emissions (DEFRA, UK).
    • Assessing the impact of climate change on diffuse pollution at a range of scales (DEFRA, UK).
    • Climate change impacts on the UK livestock sector (DEFRA, UK).

A selection of publications:

  • Del Prado A., Chadwick D. and Scholefield D. 2009. Simulating the effect on GHG emissions after implementing a trajectory towards sustainability of a dairy farm.41th Meeting of the Agricultural Research Modeller’s Group. Royal Society, London (UK).
  • Shepherd A., Wang J Cardenas L, and del Prado A. 2009. Investigating the simulation of nitrous oxide against field data at North Wyke. 16th N Workshop, Turín (Italy). 211-212.
  • Del Prado A., Scholefield D. and Chadwick D. 2009. New integrated dairy production systems: specification, practical feasibility and ways of implementation. Final DEFRA Report IS0214. Online: Download
  • Del Prado, A. and Scholefield, D. 2008. Use of SIMSDAIRY modelling framework system to compare the scope on the sustainability of a dairy farm of animal and plant genetic-based improvements with management-based changes. Journal of Agricultural Science 146: 1-17.
  • Dragosits U., Chadwick D.R., del Prado A., Scholefield D., Mills J.A.N., Crompton L.A. and Newbold C.J. 2008. Implications of farm-scale methane mitigation measures for UK methane emission. Proceedings of the SAC and SEPA Biennial Conference, Edinburgh, 26-27 March 2008. ISBN 1 85482 867 3. p.168-174.
  • Schils R.L.M., Olesen J.E., del Prado A. and Soussana J.F. 2007. A farm level approach for mitigating GHG emissions from ruminant livestock systems. Livestock Science. 112: 240-251.
  • Hopkins A. and del Prado A. 2007. Implications of climate change for grassland management: impacts, adaptations and mitigation options: a review. Grass and Forage Science 62 (2): 118-126.
  • Mills J.A.N., Dragosits U., del Prado A., Crompton L.A., Newbold J. and Chadwick D. 2007. The implications of farm‐scale methane mitigation measures for long‐term national methane emissions. Journal of Agricultural Science. 145: 648‐649.
  • Del Prado A., Scholefield D. and Brown L. NCYCLE_IRL. 2007. A model to predict N fluxes in Irish grasslands. Technical Report. Environmental Protection Agency. An Ghniomhaireacht um Chaomhnu Comhshaoil PO Box 3000, Johnstown Castle, Co. Wexford, Ireland. Online: Download
  • Chadwick D. R., del Prado A., Scholefield D., Mills J., Compton L. and Dragosits U. 2007. The implications of farm-scale methane mitigation measures for long-term national methane emissions. Final DEFRA Report CC0270. Online: Download
  • Del Prado A., Brown L., Schulte R., Ryan M. and Scholefield D. 2006. Principles of development of a mass balance N cycle model for temperate grasslands: an Irish case study. Nutrient cycling in Agroecosystems 74: 115-131.
  • Del Prado A., Merino P., Estavillo J.M., Pinto M. and González-Murua C. 2006. Nitrous and nitric oxide emissions from different N sources and under a range of soil water contents. Nutrient cycling in Agroecosystems 74: 229-243.
  • Del Prado A., Cardenas L. and Scholefield D. 2006. Impact of NO3 leaching abatement measures on N2O and CH4 emissions from a UK dairy system. International Congress Series, 1293: 359-362.
  • Del Prado A and Scholefield D. 2006. Use of SIMSDAIRY modelling framework system to specify sustainable UK dairy farms. Aspects of Applied Biology 80: 73-80. (ISSN: 0265-1491).
  • Del Prado A., Scholefield D. and Brown L. 2006. A model to simulate the effects of different dietary strategies on the sustainability of a dairy farm system. In: Kebreab et al. (eds), Nutrient Digestion and Utilization in Farm Animals: Modelling Approaches. CAB International.
  • Del Prado A., Scholefield D., Chadwick D., Misselbrook T., Haygarth P., Hopkins A., Dewhurst R., Davison P., Lord E., Turner M., Aikman P. and Schröder J. 2006. A modelling framework to identify new integrated dairy production systems. EGF: 21st General Meeting on 'Sustainable grassland productivity", Badajoz, Spain, 3-6 April 2006.
  • Brown L., Scholefield D., Jewkes E.C., Lockyer D.R. and del Prado A. 2005. NGAUGE: a decision support system to optimise N fertilisation of British grassland for economic and/or environmental goals. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. 109: 20-39.
  • Scholefield D., Jarvis S.C., Brown L., del Prado A., Hopkins A. and Cardenas L. 2005. Feed back and Feed-Forward Interactions between Climate Change and Grassland-Based Agriculture. Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change. Proceeding of the International Symposium on Stabilisation of Greenhouse Gases, Met Office, Exeter, UK, 1-3 February 2005.
  • Theobald M.R., Dragosits U., Place C.J., Smith J.U., Brown L., Scholefield D., del Prado A., Webb J., Whitehead P.G., Angus A., Hodge I.D., Fowler D. and Sutton M.A. 2004. Modelling nitrogen fluxes at the landscape scale. Water Air and Soil Pollution: Focus. 4: 135-142.
  • Pinto M., Merino P., del Prado A., Yamulki S.S., Wrage N., Pietrzak S. and Oenema, O. 2004. Increased emissions of nitric oxide and nitrous oxide following tillage of a perennial pasture. Nutrient cycling in Agroecosystems 70: 13-22.
  • Wrage N., Lauf J., del Prado A., Pinto M., Pietrzak S., Yamulki S., Oenema O. and Gebauerd G. 2004. Distinguishing sources of N2O in European grasslands by stable isotope analysis. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 18 (11): 1201-1207.
  • Del Prado A., Brown, L. and Scholefield, D. 2004. Use of the NGAUGE DSS for analysis of options for compliance with NVZ legislation on UK dairy farms. Journal of Agricultural Science 142: 246-247.
  • Macadam X.M.B., del Prado A., Merino P., Estavillo J.M., Pinto M. and Gonzalez-Murua C. 2003. Dicyandiamide and 3,4-dimethyl pyrazole phosphate decrease N2O emissions from grassland but dicyandiamide produces deleterious effects in clover. Journal of Plant Physiology 160 (12): 1517-1523.
  • Pinto, M., del Prado, A., Castellón, A., Merino P. 2001. Dinámica del N en el suelo en relación con los residuos orgánicos y el cálculo de la dosis a aplicar. 105-122. En: “Aplicación agrícola de residuos orgánicos”. Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida, 2001.
  • Merino P., Yamulki S., Pinto M., del Prado A., Sapek B. and Pietrzak S. 2000. Effects of Liming and N Fertilizer Application on Soil Acidity and Gaseous N Oxide Emissions in Grassland Systems. Poland Agriculture and Water Quality Protection. 53: 45-53. (ISBN 83-85735-90-9).
 



 
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