Drivers of environmentally friendly farming distribution and their impact on sustainability performance at different scales: a mixed methods approach
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Kent
Department Name: Sch of Anthropology & Conservation
Abstract
The UK's withdrawal from the European Union was an opportunity to reform agricultural policy to better align with sustainability goals and address limitations of agri-environment schemes (AES) in addressing environmental impacts of modern agriculture (Helm, 2017). The government's aims for reform emphasised 'public money for public goods' and the need for landscape-scale action via cooperative management, and these ideas around farmers as public good providers and landscape-scale actions have been particularly contested and changeable aspects of new policy regime (DEFRA, 2023; Harvey, 2023). My research identified challenges in applying these principles to improving agricultural sustainability, and so has timely insights to offer farmers, policy makers, and academics.
Of the many approaches to studying drivers of farmer adoption behaviours, researchers trying to understand the deeper meaning behind farmer decisions increasingly focus on farmer identities, status, and cultural ideals of what a 'good farmer' should be doing (Burton, 2004; Cusworth & Dodsworth, 2021). I used interviews to apply these concepts in investigating how farmers interpret the idea of being providers of public goods and doing so in collaboration with other farmers. This work highlighted how the 'public goods' concept was adapted by farmers to align with their identities and expectations of their role, and that targeting relationships and information exchange will be important to resolve potential conflicts between landscape-scale public good delivery and established farmer identities. Alongside these interviews, I used spatial analysis to show how AES participation in England is clustered at the district level, and to suggest factors driving this clustering. To further study how drivers of adoption distribution relate to regional sustainability, I combined scenario analysis, impact mapping, and network analysis, to assess how the rate and distribution of regenerative farming (which stands on the frontier of agricultural change in the UK) adoption could impact sustainability in south-east England. This identified key pathways to explain how the high, clustered adoption of regenerative farming can enhance regional sustainability, showing the importance of information sharing and relationships in linking aspects of sustainability at different scales. This is the first time this mix of methods has been applied in agricultural sustainability research, allowing me to bring a fresh perspective to this topic.
My research therefore made a worthwhile contribution to knowledge, and this project is an opportunity to ensure these findings reach their desired audiences and influence discussion about the future of farming in England. The 5 candidate journal articles I have identified will make new connections between different disciplines, provide recommendations that could inform implementation of post-Brexit agricultural policy, and advance our understanding of the contribution of alternative farming approaches to regional sustainability - a neglected topic in the literature, which has focused on farm-level sustainability (Inwood et al., 2018; Nogués et al., 2019). My research also highlighted the importance of considering different spatial scales in studying the adoption and sustainability performance of alternative farming approaches, so this project will involve limited further research (20% of the project, i.e., 2.5 months), adapting my methods to incorporate a multi-scale approach, which will drive expansion of this frontier in agricultural sustainability research. To maximise impact of this work, I will also attend at least 2 conferences to widen my network and share my findings and create a web-based mapping tool to present my research themes in an interactive manner for wider audiences. Additionally, I will continue teaching in areas relevant to my research and undertake training to support my professional development as an early career researcher.
Of the many approaches to studying drivers of farmer adoption behaviours, researchers trying to understand the deeper meaning behind farmer decisions increasingly focus on farmer identities, status, and cultural ideals of what a 'good farmer' should be doing (Burton, 2004; Cusworth & Dodsworth, 2021). I used interviews to apply these concepts in investigating how farmers interpret the idea of being providers of public goods and doing so in collaboration with other farmers. This work highlighted how the 'public goods' concept was adapted by farmers to align with their identities and expectations of their role, and that targeting relationships and information exchange will be important to resolve potential conflicts between landscape-scale public good delivery and established farmer identities. Alongside these interviews, I used spatial analysis to show how AES participation in England is clustered at the district level, and to suggest factors driving this clustering. To further study how drivers of adoption distribution relate to regional sustainability, I combined scenario analysis, impact mapping, and network analysis, to assess how the rate and distribution of regenerative farming (which stands on the frontier of agricultural change in the UK) adoption could impact sustainability in south-east England. This identified key pathways to explain how the high, clustered adoption of regenerative farming can enhance regional sustainability, showing the importance of information sharing and relationships in linking aspects of sustainability at different scales. This is the first time this mix of methods has been applied in agricultural sustainability research, allowing me to bring a fresh perspective to this topic.
My research therefore made a worthwhile contribution to knowledge, and this project is an opportunity to ensure these findings reach their desired audiences and influence discussion about the future of farming in England. The 5 candidate journal articles I have identified will make new connections between different disciplines, provide recommendations that could inform implementation of post-Brexit agricultural policy, and advance our understanding of the contribution of alternative farming approaches to regional sustainability - a neglected topic in the literature, which has focused on farm-level sustainability (Inwood et al., 2018; Nogués et al., 2019). My research also highlighted the importance of considering different spatial scales in studying the adoption and sustainability performance of alternative farming approaches, so this project will involve limited further research (20% of the project, i.e., 2.5 months), adapting my methods to incorporate a multi-scale approach, which will drive expansion of this frontier in agricultural sustainability research. To maximise impact of this work, I will also attend at least 2 conferences to widen my network and share my findings and create a web-based mapping tool to present my research themes in an interactive manner for wider audiences. Additionally, I will continue teaching in areas relevant to my research and undertake training to support my professional development as an early career researcher.
