Professor Francisco Areal

Francisco's research focuses on the interaction between agriculture, the environment, economics and society by developing and applying statistical and econometric methods to answer questions of policy relevance for agriculture and the environment.

Francisco is currently working on developing farm sustainability indicators; developing econometric methods to account for social connectivity (e.g. interdependence of individuals’ preferences) and unobserved heterogeneity in consumer's and producer's choices.

Francisco is currently leading a WP analysing consumer preferences at UK scale, as part of SUS-Health, a UKRI awarded collaboration between Newcastle University and Queen's University Belfast, that aims to increase sustainability and healthiness of food in UK food consumption led by Prof. Lynn Frewer (Newcastle University).

Francisco is also leading a WP on Barriers and incentives linked to farmer adoption of agro-forestry practices, as part of AF Futures, a UKRI awarded project led by Prof. Lynn Frewer (Newcastle University)

Francisco has recently led a project on achieving sustainable intensification using remote sensing in China funded by Agri-Tech in China Newton Network.

Francisco has also worked on a wide number of nationally and internationally funded projects in the past including FP6-SIGMEA, FP6 CO-extra, Defra's funded Sustainable Intensification Platform, and Innovative UK funded Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Aramajaro, amongst others. Recently, Francisco has worked on an EU funded project, SOILCARE, leading a WP on social aspects influencing the adoption of soil-improving innovations. In this project, Francisco analysed the individual's willingness to pay for soil quality improvement. 

• Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
• Analysis of the enabling environment for delivering land degradation neutrality in Nigeria: perspectives from the sub-national to local level, Olumba, C., Garrod, G., Areal, F. 29 Jul 2025, In: Journal of Environmental Planning and Management
• Connections to trees in the countryside: exploring public perceptions of agroforestry as a future land management system in England, Tindale, S., Frewer, L., Sari, N., Jin, S., Teh, Y., Whittingham, M., Girling, R., Areal, F., Pfiefer, M., Remoundou, K. 19 Aug 2025, In: Agroforestry Systems
• Consumer Attitudes to Combined Sustainability and Nutrition Labelling of Foods: An Exploratory Study, Collins, O., Higgins, K., Karbo, R., Clark, B., Sari, N., Raley, M., Fu, R., Areal, F., Thomas, E., Vlajic, J., Smyth, B., Livingstone, D., Lindberg, L., Hutchinson, G., Thompson, A., Woodside, J., Nugent, A., Brereton, P., Frewer, L. Nov 2025, In: International Journal of Consumer Studies
• Developing the Sus-Health Index: a combined measure for describing environmental impact and nutritive value of foods and meals, Grigoriadis, V., Livingstone, D., Thomas, E., Brereton, P., Woodside, J., Nugent, A., Smyth, B., Hutchinson, G., Vlajic, J., Areal Borrego, F., Collins, O., Sari, N., Fu, R., Frewer, L. 18 Sep 2025, In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
• Farmers’ perception of enablers and barriers to the adoption of renewable energy technologies for farming: a case study of the Lawra Municipality in the Upper West Region of Ghana, Karbo, R., Frewer, L., Areal, F., Boaitey, A., Jones, G. 22 Jul 2025, In: Discover Agriculture
• Incorporating preference uncertainty in best worst scaling, Areal, F., Perez, R. 30 Jan 2025, In: PLoS One
• Investigating Farmers’ Intention to Adopt Renewable Energy Technology for Farming: Determinants of Decision Making in Northern Ghana, Karbo, R., Frewer, L., Areal, F., Boaitey, A., Jones, G., Garrod, G. 10 Mar 2025, In: Agricultural and Rural Studies
• Investigating the Constraints and Mitigation Strategies for the Adoption of Sustainable Land Management Practices in Erosion-prone Areas of Southeast Nigeria, Olumba, C., Garrod, G., Areal, F. 1 Jun 2025, In: Environmental Management
• A systematic review of the efficacy of theories used to understand farmers’ technology adoption behavior in lower-to-middle-income countries, Karbo, R., Frewer, L., Areal, F., Jones, G., Nurudeen, S. 31 Dec 2024, In: Development Studies Research
• Consumer responses to plant viruses in the context of an emerging agri-food risk: a cross-country comparison, Jin, S., Yang, G., Hilaire, J., Ojo, M., Tindale, S., Areal, F., Jones, G., Frewer, L. 2024, In: Journal of Risk Research

• Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
• Invited talk: Sustainabilty of Bt maize in Spain (1998-2021) 2023

• Other Courses Other Qualification February 01 2023
• PCAP July 01 2013
• PhD July 01 2010
• MSc July 09 2003
• BSc January 22 2001