PROJECT DETAILS: Non-technical Overview
Traditional farming in Europe has produced valued landscapes which can support a wide variety of plants and animals. However, the intensification of farming over the past 50 years has led to long-term declines in wildlife.
Agri-environment schemes (AES) encourage farmers to manage their land in a way which should lead to increases in wildlife. However, AES do not always give the desired results and this failure has been linked to both social and ecological problems.
Firstly, if farmers have a poor understanding or the aims of the scheme on their farm they may not be able to manage in the best way. Secondly, management may create the habitats that certain plants and animals need but their ability to move into these new areas may be limited by their populations in the surrounding landscape or by obstacles to their successful movement in modern landscapes.
We will carry out a five-year study to test how well wildlife habitats are created under AES and whether training of farmers leads to the creation of better habitats. During this period we will observe the development of farmer's attitudes towards AES and their appropriation of knowledge for creating valuable wildlife habitats. This will be linked to ideas of how farmers' attitudes towards wildlife-friendly farming may be shifted after achieving high-quality environmental outcomes as well as the role that training can play in this.
Secondly, we will analyse how the distribution of species and habitat types in the wider landscape affects the colonisation of new habitats. The result should be recommendations to improve the success-rate of AES and to promote better biodiversity on our farms.
…See the Project Proposal for further details
PROJECT DETAILS: What are we trying to find out?
The principal aim of the FARMCAT project is to develop a holistic understanding of the social and ecological factors which lead to the successful delivery of agric-environmental schemes (AES). We will pursue this aim in a number of different ways:
- By exploring the attitude of different groups of farmers towards agricultural management under AES.
- Determining whether these attitudes affect the biodiversity gains of AES.
- Assessing the impact that training can have on farmer attitudes towards AES and the delivery of increased biodiversity.
- Assessing the impact that landscape context plays in constraining biodiversity gains under AES.
- Determining whether improvements in biodiversity under AES alter farmer attitudes towards the scheme over time.
PROJECT DETAILS: How are we going to do this?
A multi-disciplinary group of scientists will address these social and ecological constraints. We will compare structured samples of farms within arable and pastoral landscapes to determine how AES management, farmer attitude and training affect biodiversity change. We will study the impact of training of attitudes and knowledge of AES management and the process by which attitudinal shifts occur. Measures of distribution and colonisation by target species will be used to determine how landscape context interacts with farm habitat quality to determine biodiversity responses to AES. Statistical models will be developed for testing of the extent to which improved habitat quality, larger species pools and increased dispersal – by farmer training and landscape management – could enhance the biodiversity outcomes of AES.
…Full methodological details are provided in the project plan
PROJECT DETAILS: Why does this matter?
From a policy and from a practical perspective, farmers are the root of long-lasting and sustainable rural development. Agri-environment schemes play a key role in the UK and EU government policy for the promotion of nature conservation and regeneration. They provide incentives for farmers to take a proactive role in managing land for environmental benefit and so contribute towards a diverse and flourishing countryside – both for people and for wildlife.
