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Undergrazing - A New Threat For Hill Land
Published: Thu, 28 Sep 2006
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Research Note Full Title
Undergrazing - a new threat for hill land?
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The polarisation of agriculture, from extensive farming systems to either intensification or abandonment, is thought to have negative effects on biodiversity. When CAP reform was being negotiated, it was proposed that any area-based payments should have regionally defined, ecologically relevant maximum and minimum stocking densities.
However, the Single Farm Payment has been implemented without any maximum or minimum stocking densities, but with the only requirements not to abandon the land and to maintain "Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions" or GAEC. The GAEC rules are not well defined in the context of the uplands, and are therefore unable to prevent the predicted loss of livestock from large areas of the uplands.
Objectives
- To define appropriate Biodiversity Indicators, relevant to upland grazing systems
- To find out how the chosen Biodiversity Indicators respond to reduced sheep grazing
- To determine how farmers will change their livestock management in response to CAP reform and how agri-environment schemes will influence their management
- To find out if stakeholders (farmers and conservationists) view these changes as positive, negative or neutral and what are their perceptions of the costs and values of the changed management
Approach
In this study, biodiversity indicators will be selected and measured at numerous field sites.
1. Selecting biodiversity indicator(s)
The indicators will have relevance to the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy targets and will reflect the views of participants at a workshop run in April 2006 for this project. They will be refined though a survey of expert opinion.
2. Measurements
Twenty sites will be found where grazing has been reduced in the last 10-25 years, and these will be paired with similar sites in the same locality where grazing has continued at ‘normal’ levels.