Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

This is a mixed method data collection. The study is part of the Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) programme. In the context of changing external and internal pressures on UK agriculture, particularly those associated with the ongoing reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy, it is imperative to determine whether all of the various dimensions of sustainability - including the relevant economic and environmental objectives as well as social and cultural values - can be integrated successfully at the farm and landscape levels. This project explored changes in agricultural land use and the implications for farmland biodiversity, using a combination of socio-economic and ecological modelling approaches. These models can be used to answer a range of policy questions such as: What would be the best policy measures to achieve the targets on bird populations set by the government? What determines which new farming methods and agri-environment schemes will be adopted by farmers? What will be the social and economic consequences of biodiversity conservation? A consistent theme in all components of this research project was the understanding of unit behaviour (i.e. farmers, weeds or birds) and integrating these within one framework. Economic models were used to determine which actions are preferable to lowland arable farmers based on financial optimality. Through in-depth interviews with farmers, it was determined why they deviate from these model predictions, and why they vary in the way they manage farms. The method developed used a Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) framework. Data was collected using supporting software (Logical Decisions) which enabled the objective preferences (data points that summarise utility curves) and importances (SMART/WING weights on each objective) to be used as direct input into a multi-objective land-use model. In addition, relevant background information for each farm and farmer was collected. The weed ecology data from this study are available at the Environmental Information Data Centre of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. Further information for this study may be found through the ESRC Research Catalogue webpage: Evaluating the Options for Combining Economically, Socially and Ecologically Sustainable Agriculture.

Main Topics:

Arable farming, conservation policy, agricultural land-use, Multi-Attribute Utility Theory, biodiversity

Purposive selection/case studies

Face-to-face interview