Agrarian Diagnosis of South Pembrokeshire - South West wales (United Kingdom) General Synthesis

This Agrarian Diagnosis has been funded as part of the “Carasso” project which aim is to assess the impact of the latest EU Common Agricultural Policy in different countries and regions. This project is the result of a partnership between AgroParisTech (Paris) and the CCRI (Countryside and Communities Research Institute, Université du Gloucestershire). South Pembrokeshire is located 150km west of Cardiff at the south-western tip of Wales. This scenic area is well known for its diversity of coastal landscapes and red soil. This work is an attempt at understanding farming systems’ evolutions in this landscape and to come up with an acute vision of what is at play from an environmental, economic point of view. This work is the result of a 6 month fieldwork in South Pembrokeshire where I in-depth interviewed 90 farms on their history and today’s way of farming

Dartmoor Payment-By-Results T&T2: final report (15A)

The proposal of the second Dartmoor Test & Trial (T & T) was to test the practical development of payment by results (PBR) on common land by designing and trialling a model with commons graziers across the varied landscape of Dartmoor. It aimed to better understand the barriers and opportunities to improve delivery, including the necessary governance. Both the reward (payment for delivery) and governance and financial administration were addressed

Social research to understand farmer and agricultural stakeholder attitudes towards bovine tuberculosis vaccination of cattle

Background: This social research study employed a behavioural insights framework, Easy, Attractive, Social, Timely (‘EAST’), to identify cues that may influence farmer and stakeholder attitudes towards the deployment of Cattle BCG vaccine. Methods: The EAST framework was employed to develop policy scenarios consisting of several cues likely to affect vaccine uptake. These scenarios consisted of a government-led approach, an individual farmer-led approach, and a third approach, also farmer-led but organised collectively. The government approach was mandatory, while the farmer-led approaches were both voluntary. The scenarios were tested during farmer participatory workshops (n=8)and stakeholder interviews (n=35). Results: Overall, the EAST framework provided a useful approach for gathering behavioural insights around attitudes towards cattle vaccination. We found an overall receptiveness towards the idea of vaccinating cattle against bovine tuberculosis, particularly where clear, transparent messaging around the likely efficacy is mobilised, where clarity around potential implications for trading is provided, and where vaccine doses are provided free of charge and administered by veterinarians and veterinary technicians. In general, these factors were a pre-requisite to a mandatory (government-led) national approach, which was the preferred deployment mechanism among farmers and stakeholders. However, these conditions would also likely facilitate a voluntary vaccination programme. Limitations: Trust in those involved in delivering a vaccine programme and trust in the vaccine itself represent a crucial aspect of farmer and stakeholder attitudes towards cattle vaccination; however, this aspect was not covered by the EAST framework. Conclusion: EAST provided a novel framework for examining attitudes towards cattle vaccination with Cattle BCG, although we recommend incorporating a ‘trust’ component in future iterations

Exploring farmer attitudes towards the vaccination of badgers against bovine tuberculosis

This report investigates farmer attitudes towards the prospect of vaccinating badgers. It forms part of a larger social research project to examine farmers’ current and future willingness to vaccinate, or facilitate the vaccination of, cattle and badgers on their farms. Participatory workshops were carried out with farmers across England, within a range of bTB risk areas in which participants discussed four badger vaccination scenarios (Government-led approach to badger vaccination, Science-led approach to badger vaccination, Vaccinating in badger cull areas, Combined cattle and badger vaccination). All four scenarios were unpopular amongst farmers, though the science-led approach with a scientific trial was the least unappealing

Exploring farmer and stakeholder attitudes towards the vaccination of cattle against bovine tuberculosis

This report assesses farmer attitudes towards a cattle bTB vaccine, and the potential influence of different behavioural incentives to promote vaccine use. Three hypothetical policy scenarios relevant to England and Wales were developed to examine attitudes to cattle vaccination amongst farmers and industry stakeholders. Each scenario reflected a different model of delivery: mandatory (state-led), individual farmer-led, and collective (via local vaccination companies). Farmers and agricultural stakeholders were, in principle, generally supportive of cattle vaccination, and supported an effective, trade barrier-free vaccine

Assessing the prospects of the Sustainable Farming Scheme in Wales, fit for success or of limited relevance?

Post-Brexit agricultural support policy development in Wales is taking a holistic approach to sustainability combining economic, environmental and social goals in one scheme to replace the CAP. It is taking a different model compared to the other UK nations or the EU. But the challenges faced by farming have intensified with COVID and the Ukraine war including the input/output price squeeze. We used the agrarian diagnosis, a holistic case-study approach to analyse selected farm focused territories that represent typical trends in Welsh farming. We identified and quantified future scenarios relating to a range of challenges faced by Welsh farming and made a territorially sensitive impact assessment by applying those in successive steps to farm models originating from the case-studies. We first assessed the impact of the current macro-economic evolution, before considering the adoption and impact of the planned SFS with a specific focus on tenanted farms, the new form of tenancy and treeplanting, as these elements have featured heavily in stakeholder responses to the Welsh scheme. The results show that the current economic context represents a challenge for those farms using high levels of production factors. Particularly for these, it is possible to identify how the Welsh scheme could deliver many improvements; nevertheless, problems remain around impact on generational renewal, competing land uses and supply-chain and technological lock-ins

Methods to evaluate earth slip cohesion to build with light earth

Bio-based materials are subject to a growing interest since the nineties to reduce the environmental impacts of the building sector. Light earth is a low impact insulation material. Light earth building methods are based on the use of earth slip, a mix of clayed earth and water, and aggregates or fibers. The earth slip is characterized on site by mason by different means. This study aims to compare different rheological measurements methods in laboratory conditions, and then to define simple and robust tests adapted to any conditions. The study is based on six soil samples. Geotechnical characterizations show that these soils cover a wide range of natural variabilities. Their cohesive behaviors were investigated by measuring the yield stress with a rheometer, a spread test, a dipping test and a rough wall cone test, both developed for the study, and a Marsh cone test. Accuracy and the validity range of each test are presented alongside the needs for light earth applications

Hygrothermal properties of light-earth building materials

This experimental study provides complete datasets of hygrothermal properties of numerous hemp-clay with density ranging from 200 to 350 kg m-3 for building thermal insulation. In addition, attention is also paid on protocols and methods, on the measurements repeatability and on the influence of conditioning temperature and relative humidity: mean uncertainties do not exceed 10% for all measurements, while initial conditioning influences at most the results, particularly for the sorption isotherm. Heat and moisture storage properties depend obviously of the constituent (hemp or clay). Furthermore, they can be estimated with a good accuracy with a mixing law. Thermal conductivity of the composites ranges between 0.06 and 0.12 W m-1 K-1 and clearly depends on the density. Water vapor diffusion resistance factor ranges between 2.24 and 4.14, while capillary absorption coefficient ranges between 0.027 and 0.135 kg m-2 s-0.5