Hill Farm Economics, Upland Landscapes and Biodiversity

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Hill Farm Economics, Upland Landscapes and
Biodiversity

• University of Sheffield
• Paul Armsworth
• Kevin Gaston
• Martin Dallimer
• University of Nottingham
• Paul Wilson

• University of Stirling
• Nick Hanley
• Szvetlana Acs
• Dugald Tinch
• Moors for the Future
• Aletta Bonn

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Economic Condition of Hill Farming

• Many farms depend on subsidy support and will
  respond to subsidy changes.
• Farming as at present will not be sustainable
  in the Peak District
• Peak District Rural Deprivation Forum 2004

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Ecological Condition of the Uplands
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Project Aims

• To understand hill farm responses to changing
  conditions, and impacts on upland landscapes and
  biodiversity
• To develop new techniques 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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Drivers of Change

• Historical
• How have farm businesses responded to the
  changing rural economic climate?
• How has the distribution of habitats changed?
• Geographic
• Quantify role of environmental
• factors in constraining
• production choices

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Farm-scale

• Economic
• Surveys examining farm production decisions and
  farmers perceptions
• Ecological
• Surveys of bird behaviour, distribution and
  abundance on moorland and moorland fringe
  habitats
• Coupled farm-scale models
• Mapping economic drivers through to landscape and
  biodiversity change

MAN.
SHE.
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Landscape-scale

• Economic spillovers
• Leasing grazing rights
• Sheep trespass
• Land purchase
• Ecological spillovers
• Response of birds to
• landscape context and
• connectivity
• Landscape-scale
• modelling
• Coupling farm-scale models in space

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Policy Analysis

• Valuation Workshops
• How do people value alternative
• moorland futures (envisioned in
• terms of landscape, biodiversity,
• livestock, rural livelihoods).
• Policy Design
• How effective are different policy
• designs at delivering them? (Ongoing
• changes as well as novel incentive
• designs)