Miss Issi Steeley

PhD project title: Is enhanced rock weathering part of the solution to net zero cocoa farming?

Issi completed a BSc (Hons) in Biological Sciences (Plant Science) at the University of Dundee in 2023. She joined the LC3M in 2023 on a fully funded BBSRC Industrial Case award (48 months) between the University of Sheffield, Yale University and Mondelez International. She is supervised by Professor David Beerling FRS, Dr Dimitar Epihov, Dr Noah Planavsky and Dr Clare Stirling.

Issi will focus on investigating enhanced rock weathering (ERW) with cocoa production in Brazil. Cocoa is typically grown on highly weathered nutrient-poor acidic soils (oxisols). These soils are infertile because of low pH, calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and potassium (K) levels but high aluminium (Al) content. The warm climate conditions of Brazil soils are ideal for carbon dioxide removal by ERW and generating agricultural and soil co-benefits.

Building on prior studies with cocoa grown on basalt-amended oxisols in Malaysia, Issi will aim to evaluate ERW deployment on cocoa under field conditions over three growing seasons to quantify carbon removal, the response of cocoa tree growth and yields, and improvements in soil fertility.