The rationale and potential impact of HFA reform

Exmoor National Park Authorit

Organising Collective Action for Effective Environmental Management and Social Learning in Wales

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

The effect and impact of LEAF Marque in the delivery of more sustainable farming: a study to understand the added value to farmers

The broad aim of this research is to provide a study on the impact and added value to farmers when adopting LEAF Marque. It is based on thirty-seven interviews with LEAF Marque certified businesses, interviewed between December 2016 and February 2017. Twenty-five of these interviewees took part as anonymous contributors, while twelve have also prepared case studies. The evidence in the report is in three sections, an overview analysis based on the questionnaire, an analysis of the narratives regarding the benefits of participation and a collection of case studies. More specifically the report focuses on identifying the financial, environmental and social benefits that can be attributed to LEAF Marque, and Integrated Farm Management (IFM) farm practices

Collective Action for Effective Environmental Management and Social Learning in Wales

Increasingly it is recognised that land management at a landscape‐scale can deliver greater public good benefits than at the individual farm scale. Collective agri‐environment schemes are one mechanism for achieving this land management, but such schemes are in the early stages of development in the UK and uncertainty exists as to their appropriate design and delivery. This paper is based on two research projects undertaken in Wales to identify key factors that might lead to successful agri‐environmental co‐operation. The research involved in‐depth analysis of three existing farmer co‐operatives in Wales, including face to face interviews and participatory workshops. Using the theory of collective action as an analytical framework, the paper identifies key factors that could be used to encourage and enhance the success of co‐operative groups in delivering landscape‐scale schemes. Of importance 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. Improving the farming community’s capacity to co‐operate will have far‐reaching benefits for all public good provision and diversification activities

Engaging farmers in environmental management through a better understanding of behaviour

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

Extinction of cue-evoked drug-seeking relies on degrading hierarchical instrumental expectancies

There has long been need for a behavioural intervention that attenuates cue-evoked drug-seeking, but the optimal method remains obscure. To address this, we report three approaches to extinguish cue-evoked drug-seeking measured in a Pavlovian to instrumental transfer design, in non-treatment seeking adult smokers and alcohol drinkers. The results showed that the ability of a drug stimulus to transfer control over a separately trained drug-seeking response was not affected by the stimulus undergoing Pavlovian extinction training in experiment 1, but was abolished by the stimulus undergoing discriminative extinction training in experiment 2, and was abolished by explicit verbal instructions stating that the stimulus did not signal a more effective response-drug contingency in experiment 3. These data suggest that cue-evoked drug-seeking is mediated by a propositional hierarchical instrumental expectancy that the drug-seeking response is more likely to be rewarded in that stimulus. Methods which degraded this hierarchical expectancy were effective in the laboratory, and so may have therapeutic potential