Conservation Co-operatives

Finding ways to encourage farmers to join up efforts on conservation.

Contracts to encourage farmers to maintain hedgerows, copses, ponds are currently awarded on a farm by farm basis but flora and fauna simply don’t recognise farm boundaries. If enhancing the value of the natural environment and conserving biodiversity is to work better, neighbouring farms could be encouraged to co-ordinate the conservation measures they take.

A new Living With Environmental Change-accredited project within the Rural Economy and Land Use Programme is investigating some of the key questions: Could farmers make an even bigger contribution to conservation by working together more closely – and if so, what kind of schemes could policy-makers and non-governmental organisations introduce to help it happen?

 “This could create more effective habitat corridors and ‘stepping stones’ allowing species to migrate, which will be particularly important as animals and plants adapt to climate change”, says Dr Jeremy Franks, Principal Investigator.

Focusing on three areas – the Fenlands, the West Midlands and South-West England – the project has started to interview farmers face-to-face to gauge their views on the advantages of, and barriers to, a more collaborative approach.

To date, the initiative has generated a wide range of responses, both positive and negative, when asking farmers if they would in principle consider participating in such a co-operative. Overall, it is already evident that few have ever thought about collaborating with other farmers to deliver environmental outputs.

“The benefits clearly need to be explained carefully and any future scheme must satisfy farmers that it would deliver more environmental gains than agri-environmental schemes already in place,” concludes Dr Franks.