Appendix 1: Landscape Types and Other Gainful Activities

Appendix 1: Landscape types and Other Gainful Activities

1) The ITE land classes ITE land classes are characterised by broad environmental characteristics but also by land use and ecological data obtained from sample field surveys. The classification of GB into land classes is dichotomous terminating at an arbitrary number of 32. Each land class may be described by its' dominant features (e.g. land class 25 – lowlands, variable land-use, mainly arable). In general land classes with adjacent numbers have more in common with one another than with those at a numerical distance because of the way in which they were derived, but this is not always the case. Whilst 32 land classes are useful at the field survey level, at the policy level it is far easier if they are aggregated into a smaller number of units. Following the Countryside Survey of 1990 and the requirement for communicating the results at a policy level, the 32 land classes were aggregated into 4 groups (or ‘landscape types’) according to their dominant land cover and the links between them.

2) The four ‘landscape types’ The results from the CS1990 were presented both by country and by ‘landscape type’, which were as follows;  Lowland arable (34% of GB) – dominated by arable farming, cereals and other crops as well as intensively managed grassland. This landscape type is concentrated in East Anglia and the eastern midlands as well as the Central Valley and the Eastern Scottish lowlands and is less widespread, but present, in North Eastern England, the Midlands and South Eastern Scotland.  Lowland pastural (29% of GB) – dominated by pastoral land-use, mainly grassland. This landscape type is concentrated in the South West of England, West Wales, the West Midlands and North West England but also occurs in North East England, the Scottish lowlands and coastal GB.  Marginal upland (16% of GB) – the periphery of uplands in North and West GB especially Wales, this landscape type is dominated by low intensity agriculture, forestry and semi-natural vegetation.  True upland (21% of GB) – upland in character even if at low altitude, sheep farming and semi-natural vegetation generally dominate this landscape type. It is typically found in Central West and South Scotland and the Pennine and Cumbrian mountains of the North of England.

Physically the landscape types differ in terms of factors like their distance to the South and West coasts, altitude, climate and soil types. They also differ in terms of dominant land-use (as indicated above), although the use of a landscape term to describe the landscape type does not imply that it is the only land-use within that landscape type. For example, although arable farming is dominant within the ‘lowland arable’ landscape type currently, pastoral land is present, in addition, land-use is subject to change over time.

3) Biodiversity measures across the landscape.

Biodiversity varies continuously across the landscape of GB, just as the landscape itself varies. Whilst it is undoubtedly possible to assign biodiversity values to particular landscapes, or features within a landscape, assigning a particular value for biodiversity to an ITE landscape type, or land class would be misleading. It is clear however, that there are particular features of landscapes, which can be assessed for biodiversity, and if we know the likelihood of their occurrence within particular landscape types, we can then gain some insight into the way in which they contribute to the biodiversity of particular landscape types. It is then possible to make observations about changes in the biodiversity of particular landscape types over time.

4) Features of the 4 landscape types that are likely to influence biodiversity.

 Lowland arable – 41% of the land cover of GB is tilled land, where: wheat, oilseed rape, mixed and other cereals, sugar beet and peas are predominantly grown. Managed grassland constitutes approximately 30% of the land cover with about 50% of that either short term or intensively managed, often as part of the crop rotation. Between 11 and 14% of the land is covered by urban development and a lesser percentage (around 10%) woodland.  Lowland pastoral – 39% of the land cover is managed grassland with 50% of it either short term or intensively managed. The 18-22% tilled land is predominantly barley and about 5% of the land is occupied with minor arable crops. Between 12 and 14% of the land is urban and as in the arable lowlands about 10% of the land cover is woodland. Overall 16% of the land cover is semi-natural vegetation.  Marginal uplands – in character the marginal uplands are more like the true uplands than the lowland agricultural areas. Managed grassland covers approximately 28% of the land area with the majority being under intensive management. A small percentage of the land area is tilled (4%), the dominant crop being barley, and a smaller percentage (between 1 and 2%) is urban. Semi-natural vegetation covers around 50% of the land area comprising heathland, moorland and bog, along with dense stands of bracken.  True uplands – around 70% of the true uplands are covered by semi-natural vegetation, 40% of which is either wet heaths or bogs. There is very little tilled land, managed grassland or urban land in the uplands, but bracken is widespread. Conifer plantations dominate woodland areas in the uplands.

5) Linking ITE Land Classes to the Farm Business Survey Information has been provided to us by the University of Reading on the ITE Land Classes relating to FBS farms in two survey years: 1990/91; 1995/96. Since farms usually remain in the sample for more than one year, our total number of observations for each landscape type is considerably larger. The number and percentage of farm businesses within each landscape type is stated in the below table.

Landscape type Freq. % Lowland arable 9196 39.91 Lowland pastural 9786 42.47 Marginal upland 2853 16.72 True upland 205 0.89

Using this information, we can state the probability of observing each type of other gainful activity on FBS farms within each landscape type. A tabulation of these conditional probabilities is reported below. The probability of observing an OGA conditional on landscape type Landscape type Off-farm Work in separate Renting out Recreation Retail Hirework work enterprise buildings (mainly tourism)

Lowland arable 0.18 0.04 0.39 0.06 0.06 0.50 Lowland pastural 0.12 0.07 0.19 0.03 0.05 0.35 Marginal upland 0.16 0.10 0.09 0.03 0.01 0.26 True upland 0.15 0.19 0.13 0.05 -- 0.32

This table is useful for considering the relative importance of OGAs within and across landscape types. With regard to the relationship between OGAs and the natural environment, an interesting finding is that work in a separate 'diversification' enterprise (usually tourism) is more likely to be found in the marginal upland or true upland landscape types. Within the true upland landscape type, this is the most frequently observed type of OGA after hirework. Given the characteristics associated with these landscape types (outlined in 4), this suggests that market opportunities for rural tourism are greater in these areas. However, the same pattern is not observed with regard to recreation and renting out of farm buildings. Either market opportunities are not as high for farms within these landscape types or there are opportunities that have not been exploited by farmers. It seems that remoteness could not be too much of a problem for recreation since the conditional probability of observing this OGA in 'true upland' areas is higher than for farms in marginal upland or lowland pastural areas. On the other hand, retailing is a type of OGA where remoteness is clearly very important. Although only a very small proportion of FBS farms engage in this activity, there is no retailing observed in 'true upland' areas and farmers within arable or pastural landscapes are 5-6 times more likely to be observed in this activity than farms located in the marginal uplands. Appendix 2: Examples of EAGGF Objective 5b projects approved in Wales

A subsample of example Objective 5b projects provided by the National Assembly for Wales. It shows the broad range of projects that have been approved of relevance to diversification. There are many other examples.

Description Sponsor Location Business Development - Advice

Business Review Programme: To review individual farm businesses that WDA Rural Wales have a commitment to business development with the provision of assistance with identified training requirements

Farm business and environmental management scheme: To integrate South Pembrokeshire agricultural training and financial support at a local level by means of a Pembrokeshire comprehensive farm business support scheme linking business Partnership for management, training and conservation with the provision of grants Action with Rural Communities Rural enterprise scheme: a scheme to promote business awareness and Wales Young Rural Wales innovation among young farmers by means of a national competition Farmers Clubs involving the provision of advice and support to members with associated publicity

Business Development - Training

Skills and management training in agriculture and forestry - West Wales: to LANTRA West Wales identify areas where training and development can help create alternative or additional sources of farm income

Training for diversification in agriculture: provision of training to support Carmarthenshire Rural Wales the development of alternative sources of income leading to NVQ College of qualifications; including countryside management, forestry skills, farm Technology and Art tourism and agricultural engineering

Business Development - Capital Grants

Development of the Dolaucothi Farming Estate: to assist the farm business The National Trust Dolauchthi on the estate to diversify away from subsidised primary production and to Estate, near implement projects developed by the EAGGF supported Countryside officer Lampeter

Anglesey smallholdings investment grant: to encourage diversification Ynys Mon County Anglesey improvement of the smallholdings owned by the council on the island Council through the provision of a small grant scheme

Forestry - advice

Living Forest Initiative: a demonstration project to provide business support Wildlife Trust West South West and on-the-job training to assist with the development of forestry Wales Wales management, add value to forestry products and encourage farm diversification

Forestry - training

Forestry skills training for farmers and foresters: provision of support to LANTRA Rural Wales farmers wishing to learn new skills in woodland management as part of diversification programmes to augment farm incomes

Forestry - capital grants Gwynedd farm food and wood processing grant: provision of capital grants Gwynedd County Gwynedd for farmers wishing to diversify into value added or wood products Council

Forestry - services

Coed Epynt Expansion: Installation of timber handling, cutting, moulding, Coed Epynt Brecknock finishing and packaging equipment and a significant expansion of the Partnership exisitng kilning capacity. The project will enable Welsh farmers to add value to 400cu m of their hardwood timber each year. The project will enhance rural incomes, create jobs directly and bring an additional 200 hectares of broad-leaved woodland into sustainable management each year

Food - advice

Carmarthenshire farm foods, Llanelli: to establish a recognised Carmathenshire Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire Farm Foods brand. To increase awareness of the County Council opportunities available to local food producers in branding ther produce and to provide a development platform in order to increase the added value at the farm gate

Food - capital grants

Small food producers grant: a capital scheme targeting small food Ceredigion County Ceredigion businesses. Farmers are encouraged to identify opportunities to add value County with an emphasis on quality and environementally friendly practices

Tourism - advice

Farm accommodation group marketing initiative: to encourage existing Wales Tourist Rural Wales farm accommodation groups to work together to promote themselves under Board a 'family' branding and take an integrated approach to marketing

Environment - advice

Mynydd Y Ffynnon: joint project with the CCW and RSPB to manage ADAS (Wales) Near 10,000 ha of upland to maximise environmental and biodiversity benefits Aberystwyth and explore the associated opportunities for new product development, green tourism and alternative farm income and employment

Environment - training

Training and employment for access and conservation - TEAC: An 18 Brecon Beacons Brecon Beacons month project to improve access opportunities, conserve the landscape and National Park National Park train potential countryside managers and contractors. It will develop a local skills base by providing on-the-job training and encourage green tourism and agricultural diversification

Environment - capital grants

Rural Denbighshire Countryside Enhancement Scheme: This project will Denbighshire Denbighshire offer grant aid to farmers and landowners to undertake landscape and County Council wildlife projects to complement other countryside management grant schemes (not to replicate them). There will be benefits for farmers and the wider community by conserving the countryside and providing opportunities for farmers to acquire new skills and job opportunities

Appendix 3: Final/draft publications Hodge, I. and Kiddle, C. (2000) Developments in family farming in England 1988- 1997. Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge. In draft.

Hodge, I., Kiddle, C. and McNally, S. (2000a) The uncertain growth of part time farming. Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge. In draft.

Hodge, I., Kiddle, C. and McNally, S. (2000b) The determinants of part time farming in England 1988-1997. Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge. In draft.

Hodge, I.D., Kiddle, C. and McNally, S, (2000c), Less Favoured Areas: the extent of Other Gainful Activities and their contribution to business income. Final Draft - to be submitted to the Dept. of Land Economy Discussion paper series.

Kiddle, C. (2000) Structural changes in English agriculture at the regional level, 1988-1997. Centre for Rural Economics Research. Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge. In press

Kiddle, C. and Hodge, I. (2000) The changing pattern of part-time farming in England 1988-1997: sectoral and regional perspectives. Proceedings of ROOTS 2000, Wye College. RICS, London.

McNally, S., (2000), Farm diversification in England and Wales - what can we learn from the Farm Business Survey? Re-submitted to the Journal of Rural Studies

McNally, S., (2000), Are OGAs good for the environment? Submitted to the Journal of Environmental Management and also to the Dept. of Land Economy Discussion paper series.

McNally, S., (1999), CAP reform and off-farm labour: panel data analysis in England and Wales 1988-96. Paper presented at the European Society for Population Economics, 24-26 June 1999, University of Turin, Italy. This paper has been presented at the Agricultural Economics Society Conference, 1999 and at seminars in the University of Manchester and University of Cambridge. Some revisions have to be made to this paper and it will then be submitted to an economics journal

McNally, S., (1999), A review of the literature on 'part-time farming': studies on pluriactivity, farm diversification and off-farm labour supply. Rural Economics Series No.1, Dept. of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, UK.