Agri-environmental collaboratives for landscape management in Europe

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Implementing policy interventions to support farmer cooperation for environmental benefits

The empirical research conducted for this study was financially supported with funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme in the project AgriLink (grant agreement no. 727577), and the write up and revision in the project ‘Contracts2.0’ (grant agreement no. 818190). Many thanks to Lee-Ann Sutherland and Jennifer Dodsworth for helpful feedback on earlier drafts of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Using mental models to understand soil management

Funded by: LEDDRA. Grant Number: 243857 and Scottish Government's RESAS. Grant Number: 2011‐16Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Adopting sustainable soil management: the role of socio-economic factors

The sustainable management of soils is crucial to enable the long term use of the various soil functions. Although soil degradation caused by agriculture is a process defined by technical, climatic, and bio-physical factors, there is recognition that the underlying causes are to be found in the socio-economic, political and cultural context in which farmers operate. In Europe, farmers’ decision-making on farm management is strongly influenced by agricultural policies and economic incentives. This paper aims to review and summarize findings of existing studies on the role of socioeconomic factors that influence farmers and other land managers’ adoption of soil conservation practices with a focus on the European situation

The dilemma of upland footpaths : Understanding private landowner engagement in the provision of a public good

Open Access available under the T&F Agreement Acknowledgements We would like to thank all of the land management professionals who offered their time and insight in support of this research.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Communication Processes in Agro-environmental Policy Development and Decision-Making: Case Study Sachsen-Anhalt

The development of a decision support approach with regard to agro-environmental programmes is part of a larger research project on agricultural transformation and structural change processes. Research objective are improved communication processes and an enhanced quality of political decision-making. The investigation is based on the assumption that the success of agro-environmental programmes depends largely on their acceptance by all major stakeholders. This implies an early integration of varying interests in the decision-making process. Introducing participatory approaches into a bureaucratic setting poses particular problems. In order to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness, the introduction of interactive modelling approaches has to be coupled with communication processes which increase transparency and allow for consensual decision-making.communication processes, agro-environmental programmes, decision-making support, conflict resolution, participation and acceptance, rural areas, agricultural extension, sustainable agriculture, structural change, transformation processes, Environmental Economics and Policy,

An analytical framework for soil degradation, farming practices, institutions and policy responses

There is a lack of knowledge about the effectiveness and efficiency of soil conservation policies in agriculture and little understanding of how policy measures should be designed to encourage farmers to adopt soil conservation practices. This paper analyzes institutional settings surrounding agricultural soil management in ten European countries based on the Institutions of Sustainability framework. This framework considers the interdependencies between ecological and social systems, taking into account environmental conditions, farming practices impacting on soil conservation, different types of actors, policies, institutions and governance structures. The purpose of this paper is to describe the analytical framework and the methodology that all case studies are based on, present and discuss compared findings, outline implications for successful soil conservation policy, and draw conclusions on the methodological approach. The case studies focused on the main soil degradation types occurring across Europe which are addressed by a broad range of mandatory and incentive policies. The findings highlight the following issues: i) the need to design policies that target the locally most common soil threats and processes in the light of agricultural management; ii) the need to take farming management constraints into consideration, (iii) the need for good communication and cooperation both between agricultural and environmental authorities as well as between governmental and non-governmental stakeholders; iv) the necessary mix of mandatory and incentive instruments; and v) the need for data and monitoring systems allowing the evaluation of the effectiveness of policies and soil conservation practices.Institutional analysis, soil degradation, soil conservation policy, soil conservation measures, farming practices, policy evaluation, Farm Management,

Co-production of knowledge in soils governance

The co-production of knowledge between different actor groups has the potential to generate ‘more socially robust knowledge’ and better decisions, therefore improving governance processes. This paper explores knowledge co-production between different types of actors involved in soils governance in Scotland: policy makers, agency staff, scientists, local authorities, land managers and other stakeholders. In a setting characterised by network governance, we investigate knowledge co-production in three arenas that aimed to implement the Scottish Soil Framework and progress several activities such as a Soil Monitoring Action Plan and the Scotland’s Soils website. Adopting an action research, case study approach, we collected data through document analysis, observation, personal communication with policy actors involved, and semi-structured interviews with soil data users (local authorities, farmers, estate managers). The findings show different levels of interaction in the different arenas, ranging from major interaction and two-way communication to no interaction. The interaction levels indicate the extent to which knowledge exchange has taken place. Analysis highlights the divergence in problem framing between the actor groups, their diverse soil data needs and, therefore, a variation in perceptions of solutions. The combination of co-production in the different arenas enhanced policy actors’ knowledge and allowed them to reconsider policy implementation efforts. However, the delineation of knowledge types remains challenging since the same actor can hold different types of knowledge. We conclude that the concept of knowledge co-production is useful as a frame for developing polycentric, interactive and multi-party processes in soils governance, as well as to identify where interaction requires facilitation and/or improvement, but the concept does not provide a consistent theory

Institutional analysis of actors involved in the governance of innovative contracts for agri-environmental and climate schemes

Acknowledgements We like to thank all who contributed to the identification of cases and data collection. Here special thanks are due to Sigrid Aubert, Carla Barros Erismann, Sven Defrijn, Lisa Deijl, Jennifer Dodsworth, Cédric Gendre, Johannes Koberstein, Annabelle LePage, Julia Rex, Anne Sallent, Lenny van Bussel, Korneel Verslyppe, and Carleen Weebers. We also like to thank our colleagues Bettina Matzdorf and Boldizsár Megyesi for their feedback on an earlier draft of the manuscript. Funding The research conducted for this study was financially supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation action ‘Contracts2.0’ funded under grant agreement no. 818190. RB acknowledges support through the project ‘LANDSCAPER’ funded by the Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Metadata to describe the dataset on involved actors and their roles in the governance of innovative contracts for agri-environmental and climate schemes

Agri-environmental and climate schemes are an important policy instrument in the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union to maintain biodiversity and safeguard ecosystem services provision for human wellbeing. In the presented dataset, we analyzed 19 innovative contracts for agri-environmental and climate schemes from six European countries, representing examples of four different contract types: result-based, collective, land tenure, and value chain contracts. Our analytical approach comprised three steps: In the first step, we used a method mix combining literature review, web search, and expert consultation to identify potential case examples for the innovative contracts. In the second step, we employed a survey, which was structured in accordance with Ostrom's institutional analysis and development framework to collect detailed information on each contract. The survey was either filled in by us authors, based on information retrieved from websites and other data sources, or by experts directly involved in the different contracts. Based on the collected data, in the third step, an in-depth analysis was conducted on the public, private, and civil actors involved from different governance levels (local, regional, national, or international) and the roles these actors perform in contract governance. The dataset generated through these three steps contains 84 data files, which includes tables, figures, maps, and a text file. The dataset can be re-used by all interested in result-based, collective, land tenure, and value chain contracts for agri-environmental and climate schemes. Each contract is characterized in great detail by 34 variables making the dataset suitable for further institutional and governance analysis