Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
This is a mixed-methods data collection. The study is part of the Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) programme. Changing land cultivation from conventional to organic practices can have significant impacts on environmental factors such as wildlife, soil and water quality, as well as change the ways in which food is supplied, the economics of farm business and indeed the attitudes of farmers themselves. A factor that is little understood is how these depend on the scale and concentration of alternative farming systems across the landscape, from local up to the national scale. This project addresses two key questions: What causes organic farms to be arranged in clusters at local, regional and national scales, rather than be spread more evenly throughout the landscape? How do the ecological, hydrological, socio-economic and cultural impacts of organic farming vary due to neighbourhood effects at a variety of scales.The project will undertake an intensive study of existing clustered and isolated organic farms, and their surrounding neighbourhoods, to address these questions. It will culminate in mapping out some alternative scenarios for future growth of the organic sector in the UK, and evaluate the potential positive and negative effects that different patterns of organic cultivation might have, at a variety of scales, in the future. In the SCALE project, we are interested in the way in which organic subcultures are developed at the local level, with implications for the future development of organic farming. The research was undertaken in 2006-2007. Qualitative interviews were undertaken in two study sites: one in the English Midlands, and one in southern England. Both are sites in which organic farming has a 'strong' local presence, which we defined as 10 per cent or more organically managed land within a 10 km radius. Potential organic farming respondents were identified through membership lists of organic farmers provided by two certification bodies (the Soil Association and the Organic Farmers and Growers). Most who were currently farming (i.e. their listing was not out of date) agreed to an interview. Conventional farmers were identified through telephone listings. Every farmer listed in the study sites was sent a postal request for interview, followed by a telephone call to set an appointment time. This resulted in interviews with approximately 25 per cent of listed farmers. 'Respondents farms ranged in size from 40 to 3000 acres, with the majority farming between 100 and 1000 acres. Most were mixed crop-livestock farmers, with dairy most common in the southern site, and beef and/or sheep mixed with arable in the Midlands. In total, 48 farmers were interviewed, of which 21 were organic farmers. No respondent had converted from organic to conventional production, whereas 17 had converted from conventional to organic farming. Twelve of the conventional farmers defined themselves as practicing low input agriculture. The interviewed organic and conventional farmers covered a broad range of farming practices, and most were or had been involved in agri-environmental schemes. Questions were structured around a question guide, which identified definitions of 'good farming', social network participation and farming culture. The ecology data and soil data from this study will be made available through 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: An Integrated Analysis of Scale Effects in Alternative Agricultural Systems.
Main Topics:
Attitudes towards organic farming; definitions of 'good farming'; farming subcultures; conversion to organic farming; social networks
Purposive selection/case studies
Data were collected through qualitative interviews at respondents’ homes. These ranged in length from 45 minutes to two hours, and were recorded and transcribed in full.
Face-to-face interview
Verbatim transcription
