stephan haefele

Science

Dr Stephan Haefele

Soil Health and Management Team Leader

Soil Health and Management

PUBLICATIONS
Location
Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, AL5 2JQ
Tel
+44 (0) 1582 938 124
Email
stephan.haefele@rothamsted.ac.uk
Professional Platforms
LinkedIn
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Biography

Stephan is a soil scientist and agronomist, dedicated to helping farmers grow good crops and keep their soils healthy. He leads the Soil Health and Management team, working to improve soil health, crop nutrition, and food quality across global farming systems. His research helps farmers grow more nutritious crops while protecting soil resources, improving yields, reducing waste, and supporting long‑term food security.  

Stephan uses field trials, spectral analysis, and international collaborations to understand how soils supply nutrients and how crops respond. In addition, he is studying the development, turnover and monitoring of soil organic carbon, an important indicator of soil health and a mechanism for long-term carbon removal from the atmosphere. This helps farmers and the food industry to reduce their impact on the global climate. Stephan is a member of the European Union Nitrogen Expert Panel which contributes to improving efficient nitrogen use in European food production. He is also a member of the policy group of the British Soil Science Society, which identifies and sets annual policy priorities so that soils remain protected for our future.

Key topics:

  • Systems agronomy
  • Soil health
  • Nitrogen use efficiency
  • Soil organic carbon
  • Spectral analysis
  • Grain quality
  • Fertilizer improvement
  • Longterm experiments 

Strategic Programme

  • Achieving Sustainable Agricultural Systems (ASSIST)
  • Soil 2 Nutrition (S2N)

PhD Projects

  • Cereal transcription factors involved in drought tolerance.
  • Field based phenotyping tools for NUE characterization and breeding applications in wheat.

Awards

  • 2001 - PhD in Science, University of Hamburg, Germany
  • 1995 - MSc in Biology, University of Hamburg, Germany
  • 1991 - BSc in Biology, Philipps University in Marburg/Lahn, Germany

Measures of Esteem

  • Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Field Crops Research Journal
  • Member of the Consulting Editorial Board of Agronomy Journal
  • Reviewer for the Kearney foundation
  • Adjunct professor, member of the graduate faculty of the University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB)
  • Honorary Title of Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Adelaide
  • Supervision of 8 MSc students and 13 PhD students (2 on going)