The effect of decoupling on marginal agricultural systems: Implications for farm incomes, land use and upland ecology
The effect of decoupling on marginal agricultural systems: Implications for farm incomes, land use and upland ecology
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DOI：
10.1016/j.landusepol.2009.07.009
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发表时间：
2010-04-01
期刊：
影响因子：
7.1
通讯作者：
Armsworth, Paul R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Acs, Szvetlana;Hanley, Nick;Armsworth, Paul R.
在欧洲许多地区，数十年的生产补贴导致边缘地区农业的稳步集约化。最近补贴与生产决策的脱钩意味着这些地区农业的未来充满不确定性。例如，在英国高地，这个地区对生物多样性保护和生态系统服务提供都很重要，山地农民为响应人头付款而稳步增加放养密度，但现在必须重新配置农场企业，以适应向单一农场付款计划的转变。我们研究了峰区国家公园的山地农业，作为脱钩后边缘农业未来的案例研究。我们调查了 44 家农场企业，并根据企业结构和土地持有情况确定了六种有代表性的农场类型。我们为每种农场类型开发了生产决策的线性规划模型，以研究政策变化的影响，比较有和没有农业环境和山地农场支持的脱钩效果，并评估取消单一农场付款的效果。脱钩的主要影响是降低存栏率和改变牲畜活动的组合。农业环境计划可以调节脱钩造成的收入损失，预计农民将最大限度地采用新的环境管理计划，这对牲畜数量既有积极的反馈作用，也有消极的反馈作用。最后，取消单一农场付款会导致农场净收入为负，并导致一些土地被废弃。这些变化对于当前关于如何维持高地地区生态服务流以及如何维持边缘高地农业社区的争论具有重要意义。 (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. 保留所有权利。
In many parts of Europe, decades of production subsidies led to the steady intensification of agriculture in marginal areas. The recent decoupling of subsidies from production decisions means that the future of farming in these areas is uncertain. For example, in the uplands of the United Kingdom, an area important both for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service provision, hill farmers steadily increased stocking densities in response to headage payments but must now reconfigure farm businesses to account for the shift to the Single Farm Payment scheme. We examined hill farming in the Peak District National Park as a case study into the future of marginal agriculture after decoupling. We surveyed 44 farm businesses and from this identified six representative farm types based on enterprise mix and land holdings. We developed linear programming models of production decisions for each farm type to examine the impacts of policy changes, comparing the effects of decoupling with and without agri-environment and hill farm support, and evaluating the effects of removal of the Single Farm Payment. The main effects of decoupling are to reduce stocking rates, and to change the mix of livestock activities. Agri-environmental schemes mediate the income losses from decoupling, and farmers are predicted to maximise take up of new Environmental Stewardship programmes, which have both positive and negative feedback effects on livestock numbers. Finally, removal of the Single Farm Payment leads to negative net farm incomes, and some land abandonment. These changes have important implications for ongoing debates about how ecological service flows can be maintained from upland areas, and how marginal upland farming communities can be sustained. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.