Stephan Haefale

Systems Agronomist, Rothamsted Research

Stephan M Haefele is a soil scientist and agronomist, working at Rothamsted Research in Harpenden since 2017. He has 20 years of experience in international research, working in West Africa, Southeast and South Asia, and Australia. His work is centred around systems agronomy with a focus on sustainable crop and soil management, soil plant interactions and abiotic stress management. He also conducted research on biochar and bioenergy in rice-based systems, and studied the quality of rice soils globally. The main crops he worked with were rainfed and irrigated rice, maize and wheat. In his new position at Rothamsted Research, he and his research team are developing applications of modern spectroscopy analysis techniques for soil and plant analysis. Soil health evaluation and monitoring in the UK are another major focus of his work, including the effect of soil properties health on product quality.