Husbandry systems and sustainable environmental quality in Less Favoured Areas

Fiona Newcombe and George Fisher

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