The James Hutton Institute
This page is no longer updated. The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute joined forces with SCRI on 1 April 2011 to create The James Hutton Institute.
The James Hutton InstituteThis page is no longer updated. The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute joined forces with SCRI on 1 April 2011 to create The James Hutton Institute.
Auchincruive
Ayr
KA6 5HW
Scotland
Tel: 01292 525418
Fax: 01292 525251
There has been considerable interest in the conflicts arising between agricultural systems encouraged by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and nature conservation. The European Union (EU) has funded a four year research project that commenced in March 1996 to research 'Husbandry systems and sustainable social and environmental quality in Less Favoured Areas' (EQULFA).
The broad aim of the project is to adjust primary production systems in Less Favoured Areas (LFA) so that they preserve landscape environments, become sustainable in terms of socio-economics and aid development of rural communities. The project involves a core team of 30 researchers from 5 European countries; Scotland, France, Italy, Germany and Greece. The scope of the project, however, extends beyond the scope of this core team to include groups with many different interests and viewpoints on the conservation of landscapes, and involves co-operation with other research teams and European projects.
To enable a project of this size to be workable, it is broken down into four tasks;
Task 1. To define the ecological management practices and indicators for important cultural landscapes in the EU. Current problems and support frameworks will be identified and decision support systems designed.
Task 2. Integrate animal husbandry practices with sustainable landscape management and use of forage resources (micro-landscape level). This task will focus on the grazing ruminant as the dominant agricultural land-use of hill LFA in the EU. The impacts of grazing will be described and novel management will be used to design decision support frameworks.
Task 3. Assess the impact of changes in husbandry systems on regional socio-economics, rural development and potential use of LFA land resources for amenity (macro-landscape level). The project will research the diversification of farming and rural communities and impacts of such changes.
Task 4. Assess the potential of landscape environment quality in meeting consumer expectations and markets. This will involve landscape products, consumer expectations, fulfilment and the impacts of green tourism on regional socio-economics.
These four tasks will be brought together by the use of common methodologies and incorporated to form decision support models and frameworks. Similar study areas will be used for the four tasks for each European partner country. The Scottish study region is the Loch Lomond catchment area.
Rural areas will benefit from the project as it will identify areas in which future diversification may be encouraged. The socio-economic methodology will enable rural communities to have a strong input into the project and to interact with other groups with interests in the landscape.
The project will draw together many factors that affect the European landscape and will give an overview of the problems and solutions for the conflict between current agricultural systems under the CAP and issues of landscape protection. It will aid the conservation of the cultural environment which includes the sustainability of rural communities, socio-economics and nature conservation.
For further information about EQULFA please contact:
Fiona Newcombe,
Grassland & Ruminant Science Department, SAC, Auchincruive, Ayr, KA8 9PU.
Tel. + 44 1292 525418 Fax + 44 1224 525251
E.mail F.Newcombe@au.sac.ac.uk
1.1 Dr. GEJ FISHER (Project co-ordinator. Objective 1 Manager. Grazing Ecologist)
1.2 Dr. A WATERHOUSE (Head of Hill and Upland Grassland Section of the Grassland and Ruminant Science Department. Animal Scientist)
1.3 Dr. R GOODING (Vegetation Ecologist)
1.4 Dr. I HULBERT (Landscape Ecologist)
1.5 Mr. S ASHWORTH (Head of Rural Policy and Marketing Section of the Economics, Marketing and Management Department)
1.6 Miss F NEWCOMBE (EQULFA Project Manager)
2.1 Dr. G. RAHMANN (Objective 4 Manager. Socio-Economist and Agronomist. Management of all relevant Tasks)
2.2 Prof. ES TAWFIK (Head of Department of Animal Husbandry)
2.3 Dr. K VOWINKEL (Biologist)
2.4 Ms R ALBERT (Socio-economist)
2.5 Mr H WIESING (Agricultural economist) P3 - IT
3.1 Dr. V ABBADESSA (Joint Objective 2 Manager. Grazing Ecologist. Management of all relevant Tasks0
3.2 Dr. S MISITI (Head of Animal Production Division. Animal Scientist)
3.3 Dr. M ANTONINI (Animal Health and Production Scientist)
3.4 Dr. M IANNETTA (Vegetation Biologist)
3.5 Dr. S GRAUSO (Soil Conservation Scientist)
3.6 Dr. E ARCURI (Economist)
3.7 Dr. G SCHINO (Animal Ethologist)
3-1.1 Dr. M TRABALZA MARINUCCI (Joint Objective 2 Manager. Animal production Scientist and Grazing Ecologist. Management of all relevant Tasks)
3-1.2 Prof. O OLIVIERI (Head of Animal Production Institute. Animal Production Scientist)
3-1.3 Dr. G MARTINO (Analytical Chemist and Nutritionist)
3-1.3 Dr. D CASCIOTTI (Vegetation Ecologist
3-1.4 AN OTHER (Assistant Scientist)
4.1 Prof. A NASTIS (Objective 4 Manager. Rangeland Scientist and Animal Nutritionist Management of all relevant tasks0
4.2 Prof. V PAPANASTASIS (Rangeland Ecologist)
4.3 Prof. (Assoc.) C TSIOUVARAS (Woodland and Forage Ecologist)
4.4 Prof. (Assis.) V NOITSAKIS (Rangeland Ecologist)
4.5 Prof. (Assis.) Z KOUKOURA (Ecophysiologist)
4.6 Dr. I ISPIKOUDIS (Landscape Ecologist)
4.7 AN OTHER (Landscape Ecologist)
5.1 Dr. E LECRIVAIN (Animal Behaviour Scientist. Management of all relevant tasks)
5.2 Dr. N GIRARD (Farm Systems Modelling Scientist)
5.3 Mr. J LASSEUR (Animal Production Engineer)
5.4 Dr MC LEOUFFRE (Landscape Ecologist)
Regional Images and the Promotion of Quality Products and Services in the Lagging Regions of the EU (RIPPLE)
Agriculture in the LFAs faces many uncertainties following CAP reforms of 1992, the GATT agreement on world trade and further EU reforms which will become necessary to cope with difficulties in the beef and dairy markets as well as to modify market and structural policies to cope with the addition of new member states from Eastern Europe in the next millennium. While much research to date has concentrated on farm-diversification as a solution to declining farm household incomes, this has often been conducted without any analysis of the markets for products from diversified enterprises and
the wider framework of local and regional economic activities and structures within which they would need to develop.
At the recent LSIRD conference "Livestock Systems in Rural Development in Disadvantaged Areas" at Nafplio, Greece, a number of contributors outlined case studies of regional images and local identities for quality livestock products from disadvantaged areas.
The RIPPLE project which is being funded by the EU under the FAIR programme more generally will aim to help public and private institutions to develop strategies, policies and structures to assist in the successful marketing and promotion of quality products and services in the lagging regions of the EU. Innovatively, it will work on regional imagery and marketing in relation to the relative success and failure of quality products and services, both of an agricultural and non-agricultural nature.
More specifically, the project will:
In particular, the project will help towards the development of models of regional images and marketing and criteria for assessing a priori the effectiveness of future policies and strategies to promote quality products. It will therefore enable individual farmers, farmer groups, small scale processors, local development agencies and local authorities to evaluate and develop more appropriate strategies for promoting their quality products on the basis of regional identity. The study will initially hope to focus on products such as organic foods, cheeses and rural tourism services.
The project commences March 1997 and will run for 27 months. It will be co-ordinated by the Dept of Geography, University of Coventry. Other partners are Dept. of Agricultural and Rural Economics, SAC Aberdeen, UK; Institute of Rural Studies, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK; Dept of Geography, University College Galway, Ireland; Rural Economy Research Centre and National Food Centre, Teagasc, Ireland; CEMEGREF, Clermont Ferrand and University of Caen, France; Dept. of Economics, University of Patras, Greece; Dept. of Geography, University of Valencia, Spain; and Institute for Rural
Research and Training, Helsinki University, Finland.
If you are interested in further details please contact:
p.leat@ab.sac.ac.uk
j.brannigan@ab.sac.ac.uk
Dept. of Agricultural and Rural Economics
SAC Aberdeen
MacRobert Building
581 King St
Aberdeen AB24 5UD
tel +44 1224 711000
fax +44 1224 276012
or Brian Revell
Dept Agricultural and Rural Economics, SAC Aberdeen
25 October 1996