Impacts%20of%20Policy%20Reform%20on%20Sustainability%20of%20Hill%20Farming

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Impacts of Policy Reform on Sustainability of
Hill Farming
Szvetlana Acs szvetlana.acs_at_stir.ac.uk 16th May
2007
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Overview

• Background (project description)
• Socio-economic survey design
• Descriptive results of the survey
• Modelling framework
• Policy analysis

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Background
Project title Hill Farm Economics, Landscape and
Biodiversity in the Peak District

• Project aim
• To understand hill farm responses to changing
  conditions and upland landscapes and
  biodiversity.
• To develop a modelling approach for analysing
  economic and ecological interactions among farms.
  

- To examine public understanding of and
preferences for contrasting moorland futures. -
To examine the performance of alternative policy
interventions.
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Background
1. Drivers of change - Historical response of
farm businesses to changing rural
economic climate, change of habitat
distribution - Geographic importance of
environmental factors in constraining
production choices
2. Farm-Scale - Economic socio-economic
surveys examining farm production decisions -
Ecological surveys of bird behaviour,
distribution and abundance on moorland and
moorland fringe habitats.
Coupled farm-scale models
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Background
3. Landscape-scale - Economic spillovers -
Leasing grazing rights, sheep trespass - Land
purchase - Ecological spillovers -
response of birds to landscape context and
connectivity - Landscape-scale models
Coupled farm-scale models in space
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Background
4. Policy Analysis - Valuation workshops -
How do people value alternative moorland futures
(landscape, biodiversity, livestock, rural
livelihoods) - Policy design - How
effective are different policy designs at
delivering them? (Ongoing changes as well as
novel incentive designs)
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Farm Surveys

• Purpose
• - Investigate how land is managed on hill farms
• How land management affects the economy of the
• farms (including ongoing policy changes, i.e.
  HFA)

• Farm survey 2006/07
• Questionnaires
• Peak District Dark Peak and South West Peak
• 47 farms (within 2 km of moorland)

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Farm Surveys

• Questionnaire
• Land area, land types (moorland, in-bye types)

• Land use
• Use of the moorland (i.e. grazing, cutting,
  burning, grouse-shooting)
• Arable crop production
• Fodder production (i.e. hay, silage, straw)
• Grazing (i.e. sheep, beef, dairy)
• Fertilizer, manure application, cutting dates
• Drainage and boundary maintenance

• Animal production
• (sheep, beef, dairy)
• -Labour use, machinery use

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Farm Surveys

• Questionnaire
• Predator control and species (i.e. lapwing,
  foxes, crows)
• Other income sources (on-farm, off-farm,
  diversification)
• Subsidy payments (i.e. ELS, HLS, ESA, CSS, SFP,
  HFA)
• activities for complying with these schemes
• Farm planning
• production
• schemes (ELS, HLS)

Data land use, production, prices, schemes
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Farm Survey Results
Number of farms for further analysis 44 (from 47)
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Farm Survey Results
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Farm Survey Results
Total farms represented by models 93
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Farm Survey Results
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Farm Survey Results
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Farm Survey Results
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Modelling framework
Linking economic and ecological aspects

• Individual farm models (LP models for each farm
  type)
• Aggregated models (Dark Peak, South-West Peak)
• 3. Models for special groups of farms (i.e.
  agglomeration bonus)

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Modelling framework
Environmental Schemes
Policy regulations
Liner Programming model (Max. Income)
Farm type
Results Optimal land use (management) Economic
(income) Ecological (biodiversity, landscape)
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Policy Analysis

• Impacts of policy reforms on income, landscape
  and biodiversity (farm and aggregated level)
• Reform of Hill Farm Allowance Scheme
• Effect of Single Farm Payment Scheme
• Reform of Agri-Environmental Schemes in general

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