Professor Haggar's research interests are focused on the understanding tradeoffs between agricultural production and ecosystem services, and how to facilitate sustainable agricultural development in developing countries. Addressing these questions he is Research Director of the Sustainable Agricultural Intensification Research and Learning Alliance in Africa programme funded by FCDO.

He is interested in how sustainable agricultural production techniques can sustain ecosystem services and biodiversity. Using shaded coffee systems as a model he is researching the degree to which sustainable certification of coffee provides an incentive to farmers to conserve shade, and the degree to which tree shade offers services similar to a forest. Beyond this, a key question of interest is the degree to which the improved ecosystem services from sustainable agriculture (e.g. shaded coffee) compensate the larger area needed in production, as opposed to intensive agriculture, that produce the same on less land but may leave more forest.

On the second topic, Professor Haggar is committed to helping improve the livelihoods of poor farmers, whether in Central America or Sierra Leone, understanding what types of interventions could help farmers generate improved incomes, without destroying their environments. This includes how to develop and manage multi-disciplinary interventions integrating ecological production, business organisation and marketing of sustainable products.

Professor Haggar is also supervising various PhD students in the Ecosystem services research group.

Sustainable Agricultural Intensification Research and Learning Alliance in Africa Programme
2015-2020. £1.1 million plus 5.5 million in funded projects; funded by FCDO.

SAIRLA is a five-year programme that seeks to generate new evidence and design tools to enable governments, investors and other key actors to deliver more effective policies and investments in sustainable agricultural intensification (SAI) that strengthen the capacity of poorer farmers’, especially women and youth, to access and benefit from SAI.
SAIRLA’s research projects will generate new evidence and decision-making support tools to help governments, policy-makers, investors and other key actors create an enabling environment for women and poorer smallholder farmers engage in sustainable agricultural intensification. SAIRLA will facilitate the development of multi-stakeholder learning platforms – the SAIRLA Learning Alliance - in each of the target countries and between those countries and international stakeholders to co-generate, share and facilitate use of knowledge by decision makers.

Agroforests: a critical resource for megadiversity in Guatemala. 2011–15. Value: £250,000. Funded by the Darwin Initiative.

The aims of the research are to:

• Identify the role and potential of agroforestry systems to sustain biodiversity in agroforest/forest/agriculture mosaics. See more details HERE and some initial results HERE.
• Identify the incentives of land-owners to maintain biodiverse production systems. See more details HERE.
• Support land-owners in accessing incentives to conserve biodiverse production systems
• Provide policy recommendations to public and private bodies on how to improve incentives to landowners to conserve biodiversity.

Supporting ecosystem services in Fairtrade value chains. 2012–13. Value: £20,000. NERC- Environmental Sustainability KTN.

The study identified the rationale of Fairtrade businesses investing in environmental sustainability among their suppliers of coffee and cocoa. Subsequently the study reviewed in-country the implementation of these investments and assessed the likely outcomes in terms of provision of ecosystem services. See final report HERE.

Robusta Coffee Development Project, Sierra Leone. 2013–15. Value: EUR1.4m. European Commission/Govt of Sierra Leone.

The project will support 10,000 smallholder farmers to renovate their coffee plantations, which have been abandoned since the civil war, through training in good agricultural practices in Farmer Field Schools and by providing improved planting material. The project will also reinforce the capacity of the producer organisations to provide a quality product that is also certified for the sustainability of production.

Professor Haggar has also worked on climate adapation for smallholder farmers in the tropics, including evaluating the exposure, sensitivity and adaptation capacity of farmers to assess their overall vulnerability and to identify adaptation needs. He is also interested in the trade-offs between climate adaptation and climate mitigation, and the conditions that allow or prevent their combination into climate-smart agriculture strategies.

• Schnabel F; Virginio de Melo Virginio E; Xu S; Fisk I; Roupsard O; Haggar J (2017) Shade trees: a determinant to the relative success of organic versus conventional coffee production. Agroforestry Systems DOI 10.1007/s10457-017-0100-y
• Haggar J; Soto G; Casanoves F; de Melo Virginio E (2017) Environmental-economic trade-offs and benefits on sustainably certified coffee farms. Ecological Indicators 79: 330-337 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.04.023
• Haggar J; Asigbaase M; Bonilla G; Pico J; Quilo A. (2015) Tree diversity on sustainably certified and conventional coffee farms in Central America. Biodiversity and Conservation: DOI 10.1007/s10531-014-0851-y
• Baca M, Laderach P, Haggar J, Schroth G, Ovalle A (2014) An integrated framework for assessing vulnerability to climate change and developing adaptation strategies for coffee growing families in Mesoamerica. PLoS ONE 9: e88463. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0088463
• Noponen, M., Haggar, J., Edwards-Jones, G., Healey, J. (2013) Intensification of coffee systems can increase the effectiveness of REDD mechanisms. Agricultural Systems 119: 1-9
• Noponen, M., Healey, J., Soto, G., Haggar, J. (2013) Sink or source – the potential of coffee agroforestry systems to sequester atmospheric CO2 into soil organic carbon. Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment 175: 60-68
• Haggar, J., Medina, B., Aguilar, R.M., Munoz, C. (2013) Land use change on coffee farms in southern Guatemala and its environmental consequences. Environmental Management 51: 811-823 DOI 10.1007/s00267-013-0019-7
• Haggar, J., Jerez. R., Cuadra, L., Alvarado, U. and Soto, G. (2012) Environmental and economic costs and benefits from sustainable certification of coffee in Nicaragua. Food Chain 2: 24-41
• Noponen, Martin R.A., Edwards-Jones, Gareth, Haggar, Jeremy P., Soto, Gabriela, Attarzadeh, Nicola and Healey, John R. (2012) Greenhouse gas emissions in coffee grown with differing input levels under conventional and organic management. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 151. pp. 6-15. ISSN 0167-8809 (doi:10.1016/j.agee.2012.01.019)
• Clements, Rebecca, Haggar, Jeremy, Quezada, Alicia and Torres, Juan (2011) Technologies for climate change adaptation: agricultural sector. TNA Guidebook Series . UNEP Risø Centre on Energy, Climate and Sustainable Development / Practical Action, Roskilde, Denmark. ISBN 978-87-550-3927-8
• Idol, Travis, Haggar, Jeremy and Cox, Linda (2011) Ecosystem services from smallholder forestry and agroforestry in the tropics. In: Integrating Agriculture, Conservation and Ecotourism: Examples from the field. Issues in Agroecology – Present Status and Future Prospectus (1). Springer, Dordrecht / Heidelberg / London / New York, pp. 209-270. ISBN 978-94-007-1308-6 (print), 978-94-007-1309-3 (eISBN) (doi:10.1007/978-94-007-1309-3_5)
• Haggar, J., Barrios, M., Bolaños, M., Merlo, M., Moraga, P., Munguia, R., Ponce, A., Romero, S., Soto, G., Staver, C. and Virginio, E. de M.F. (2011) Coffee agroecosystem performance under full sun, shade, conventional and organic management regimes in Central America. Agroforestry Systems, 82 (3). pp. 285-301. ISSN 0167-4366 (Print), 1572-9680 (Online) (doi:10.1007/s10457-011-9392-5)
• Eakin, Hallie, Bojórquez-Tapia, Luis A., Diaz, Rafael Monterde, Castellanos, Edwin and Haggar, Jeremy (2011) Adaptive capacity and social-environmental change: Theoretical and operational modeling of smallholder coffee systems response in Mesoamerican Pacific Rim. Environmental Management, 47 (3). pp. 352-367. ISSN 0364-152X (Print), 1432-1009 (Online) (doi:10.1007/s00267-010-9603-2)
• Schroth, Goetz, Laderach, Peter, Dempewolf, Jan, Philpott, Stacy, Haggar, Jeremy, Eakin, Hallie, Castillejos, Teresa, Garcia Moreno, Jaime, Soto Pinto, Lorena, Hernandez, Ricardo, Eitzinger, Anton and Ramirez Villegas, Julian (2009) Towards a climate change adaptation strategy for coffee communities and ecosystems in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, Mexico. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 14 (7). pp. 605-625. ISSN 1381-2386 (print) 1573-1596 (online) (doi:10.1007/s11027-009-9186-5)
• Wightman, Kevyn E., Ward, Sheila E., Haggar, Jeremy P., Santiago, Bartolo Rodríguez and Cornelius, Jonathan P. (2008) Performance and genetic variation of big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla King) in provenance and progeny trials in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. Forest Ecology and Management, 255 (2). pp. 346-355. ISSN 0378-1127 (doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2007.09.056)
• Mercer E., Haggar J., Snook, A. and Sosa M. (2005) Agroforestry Adoption in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Campeche, Mexico. Small scale forest economics. Management and Policy 4: 163-184.
• Haggar J,. Sosa M., Diaz B., Hernandez G., Contreras J., and Uc C. (2004) Adaptation of agroforestry systems in SE Mexico through the integration of farmer and bioeconomic evaluations. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 2(3) 154-166.
• Bigelow S., Ewel J. and Haggar J. (2004) Enhancing Nutrient Retention in Tropical Tree Plantations: No Short Cuts. Ecological Applications 14: 28-46.
• Haggar J., Rheingans R., Arroyo P. and Alvarado B. (2003) Benefits and costs of intercropping reforestation in the Atlantic Lowlands of Costa Rica. New Forests 25: 41-48.
• Haggar J.P., Ayala A., Diaz B. and Uc C. (2001) Participatory Design of Agroforestry Systems: Developing farmer participatory research methods in Mexico. Development in Practice 11: 417- 424.
• Wightman K.E., Shear T., Goldfarb B. and Haggar J.P. (2001) Nursery and field establishment techniques to improve seedling growth of three Costa Rican hardwoods. New Forests 22: 75-96.
• Tornquist C.G., Hons F.M., Feagley S.E. and Haggar J.P. (1999) Agroforestry system effects on soil characteristics of the Sarapiqui region of Costa Rica. Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment 73: 19-28.
• Haggar J.P., Briscoe C.B. and Butterfield R.P. (1998) Native species: a resource for the diversification of forestry production in the lowland humid tropics. Forest Ecology and Management 106: 195-203.
• Powers J.S., Haggar J.P. and Fisher R. (1997) The effect of overstory composition on understory woody regeneration and species richness in seven year-old plantations in Costa Rica. Forest Ecology and Management 99: 43-54.
• Haggar J.P., Wightman K.E. and Fisher R. (1997) The potential of plantations to foster woody regeneration within a deforested landscape in lowland Costa Rica. Forest Ecology and Management 99: 55-64.
• Haggar J.P. and Ewel J.J. (1997) Primary Productivity and Resource Partitioning in Model Tropical Ecosystems. Ecology 78:1211-1221.
• Haggar J.P. and Ewel J.J. (1995) Establishment, resource acquisition, and early productivity as determined by biomass allocation patterns of three tropical tree species. Forest Science 41 (4) 689-708.
• Rippin M., Haggar J.P., Kass D. and Koepke, U. (1994) Alley cropping and mulching with Erythrina poeppigiana (Walp.) O.F. Cook and Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Walp.: Effects on maize/weed competition. Agroforestry Systems 25: 119-134.
• Haggar J.P. (1994) Trees in alley cropping: Competitors or soil improvers? Outlook on Agriculture 23:27-32.
• Haggar J.P. and Ewel J.J. (1994) Experiments on the ecological basis of sustainability: early findings on nitrogen and phosphorus, and root systems. Interciencia 19 (6), 345-351.
• Haggar J.P., Tanner E.V.J., Beer J.W. and Kass D. (1993) The effect on nitrogen dynamics of introducing legume trees into a tropical annual cropping system. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 25:1363-1378.
• Haggar J.P. and Beer J.W. (1993) Effect on maize growth of the interaction between increased nitrogen availability and competition with trees in alley-cropping. Agroforestry Systems 21: 239-249.
• Haggar J.P., Warren G.P., Beer J.W. and Kass D. (1991) Phosphorus availability under alley-cropping and mulched and unmulched sole-cropping systems. Plant and Soil 137: 275-283.
• Haggar J.P., Westgarth-Smith A.R. and Penman D. (1989) Threatened flora and forests in the Azores. Oryx 23:155-160.
• Haggar J.P. (1988) The structure, composition and status of the cloud forests of Pico Island in the Azores. Biological Conservation 46: 7-22.

Professor Haggar is leader of the Sustainable Agricultural Intensification Programme and Ecosystem Services Research Group.

• Member, British Ecological Society

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4682-4879

Google Scholar

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=mZ3LttsAAAAJ

Research Gate

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jeremy_Haggar

Academia

https://gre.academia.edu/JeremyHaggar