Mark Reed  Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth & Environment

 

Developing an agricultural land management strategy for Yorkshire Water’s catchments (Yorkshire Water)

Role: Co-Investigator

Status: Ongoing

Funding Body: Yorkshire Water

Amount: £99,867

Duration: 2007-2008

Collaborators: Dr Klaus Hubacek (PI), Mette Termansen (Co-I)

Project Description:

A number of agricultural policies have changed recently, including the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and environmental stewardship schemes. These changes may lead to changes in farmer practices, which could have particular implications for YW if its tenant farmers or their non-tenant neighbors change the nature of their activities significantly or even give up farming altogether. A need therefore exists to understand how recent policy changes are likely to affect behaviour so that YW can best work with its tenants and other land managers to deliver outcomes that are desirable for all stakeholders and assist with WFD compliance. With such knowledge YW would be better placed to develop its own policies for tenant management and to lobby EU and national government for advantageous modifications to broader economic instruments such as the CAP and environmental stewardship schemes which offer promise for cost-effective delivery of WFD quality.  

These objectives will be achieved by combining socio-economic and biophysical models to produce an integrated understanding of how policies and incentives for land management act within the framework of farmers’ own business objectives to influence farmers’ land use decisions, and ultimately the water quality in YWs upland catchments. This understanding will then be applied to identify cost effective policies and incentives through which YW could improve raw water quality by influencing and adjusting the land management decisions of its tenant farmers. The models are equally applicable to the analysis of the influence of EU and national government policies on land use behaviour of upland farmers.  Broader social and environmental consequences of the different policy and incentive options will also be assessed to inform the development of socially and environmentally responsible policies for water quality management.