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The paper explored key factors that might lead to successful agri-environmental social learning and collective action in order to deliver landscape-scale resource management within agri-environment schemes. Using the theory of collective action as an analytical framework the paper examined findings from in-depth interviews with 20 members of two co-operative initiatives in Wales and two participatory workshops. Consideration of the theory helped in understanding how individuals come together to provide public goods, and the conditions that make this activity a success. Factors of importance for organising and delivering collective agri-environment schemes were: locally adaptable engagement strategies; working with group members previously known to each other; institutional arrangements that limited group size and which allowed groups to develop their own solutions and implementation rules; and external support offering the services of a local facilitator and funding for both planning and management stages. A clear finding from the research was the extent to which both business and social confidence can grow within such groups which opens up further development opportunities. The paper identifies key factors that could be used to encourage and enhance the success of co-operative groups in delivering landscape-scale agri-environment schemes. The research findings identify appropriate mechanisms for the design and delivery of collective agri-environment schemes and environment management in the UK, which can also be applied to other parts of Europe. (Contains 2 tables.)

The UK Brexit vote triggered a new wave of policy developments for a future outside the EU. In this context, we analyse the business performance of English hill and upland farms, characterised by marginal economic conditions but also high nature value (HNV). The analysis aims to help identify farm‐level management and policy options for greater economic, environmental and social sustainability. Business performance is measured as technical efficiency and the occurrence and persistence of abnormal profits, estimated through stochastic frontier analysis and static and dynamic panel‐data methods. The results help indicate rationales for recent trends including farm enlargement, farm family diversification, and agri‐environment scheme entry. The single farm payment is found to be negatively associated with farm technical efficiency while agri‐environmental subsidies were positively associated to short‐term farm profitability. Farm adaptation and resilience during a period of likely turbulence in external circumstances is discussed in light of these findings, as well as potential parallels with marginal HNV areas across Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Kingdom's approach to encouraging environmentally positive behaviour has been three-pronged, through voluntarism, incentives and regulation, and the balance between the approaches has fluctuated over time. Whilst financial incentives and regulatory approaches have been effective in achieving some environmental management behavioural change amongst farmers, ultimately these can be viewed as transient drivers without long-term sustainability. Increasingly, there is interest in 'nudging' managers towards voluntary environmentally friendly actions. This approach requires a good understanding of farmers' willingness and ability to take up environmental activities and the influences on farmer behavioural change. The paper aims to provide insights from 60 qualitative farmer interviews undertaken for a research project into farmers' willingness and ability to undertake environmental management, particularly focusing on social psychological insights. Furthermore, it explores farmers' level of engagement with advice and support networks that foster a genuine interest, responsibility and a sense of personal and social norm to sustain high quality environmental outcomes. Two conceptual frameworks are presented for usefully exploring the complex set of inter-relationships that can influence farmers' willingness to undertake environmental management practices. The research findings show how an in-depth understanding of farmer's willingness and ability to adopt environmental management practices and their existing level of engagement with advice and support are necessary to develop appropriate engagement approaches to achieve sustained and durable environmental management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural areas face increasing pressures to deliver both private and public goods from land management. Multiple stakeholders seek different outcomes and there is substantial heterogeneity in values. Trade-offs, synergies and complementarities exist between different services and alternative bundles of goods. The resulting complex social-ecological systems (SES) therefore require adaptive co-management. In a governance context, no single organisation has oversight across the variety of interests involved, but the challenge remains as to how these interests can best be balanced and negotiated, to deliver socially beneficial outcomes. This paper analyses how this might be achieved by considering the perspective of a ‘social residual claimant’ (SRC). The SRC, as an ideal type, represents the ultimate ‘owner’ or steward of an ecosystem which sets the criteria to assess alternative outcomes, identifying best approaches and addressing uncertainty through adaptive management. A SRC cannot be a static construct, but must interact with and influence private land-holders and other stakeholders, adjusting actions as circumstances change. We identify the criteria that would be required in order for an SRC to act in the best interests of society. We then make a comparison of these criteria against the conditions applying in three contrasting approaches currently operating in the UK: National Parks, Landscape Partnerships and Nature Improvement Areas. This enables us to identify the differences between approaches and to suggest changes that could enhance capabilities, as well as ideas for further research. We suggest that the ideal of an SRC offers a simple method of benchmarking that has potential application across a wider range of different local contexts, beyond the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines English experience with agri-environment schemes as a tool to promote sustainable landscapes. Evidence is drawn from policy and academic literature and selected recent research. Performance is assessed by reference to key notions of sustainable landscapes: spatial coherence, functionality and socio-cultural meaning. Whilst now widespread across England and well-supported by the environmental community, agri-environment schemes suffer from weaknesses in design and delivery including insensitivity to the evolving needs and concerns of farming businesses, the wider policy context, and thereby to the integrity of the landscape. An upland case study illustrates problems of poor communication and advice, narrow and inconsistent delivery, and under-recognition of social issues which together work against more sustainable agricultural landscapes. In the context of emerging EU and global challenges, a shift of emphasis towards systemic approaches, developed territorially in partnership with farmers, is needed. Emerging non-policy innovations and new initiatives may offer lessons for an improved approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper, originally contributed as part of the government''s Foresight investigation of Land Use Futures, considers the likely shape of policies affecting UK rural land use up to 2060, based on literature review, analysis of past and current trends and drivers, and discussion with selected policy experts. The postwar, centralised approach to spatial planning and countryside management has come under increasing challenge from domestic and international needs and concerns. European policy influence has increased in respect of agriculture and the natural environment. Zoning of land-use and a restrictive approach to built development have gradually weakened, and land-use drivers have become more multifunctional. Policy has moved away from a ‘top-down’ process designed in Whitehall towards a multi-layered structure within which international agreements and negotiations must be reconciled with regional and local, partnership-based approaches to planning and management, via national frameworks and a complex mix of regulatory and market-based instruments. Climate and energy policy, as well as policies on food and health, will require new and more diverse forms of development. A major challenge for the future could be the extent to which current, multi-layered spatial planning policies can accommodate the scale of change implied by the new mix of drivers from other policy areas. There is the possibility of an increasingly differentiated response across the UK countryside, as well as much more radical change in the system driven from the centre, as pressures increase. While the Government Office for Science commissioned this review, the views are those of the author, are independent of Government, and do not constitute Government policy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]