Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

This study is part of the Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) programme.

The research examined the possible benefits from, and barriers to, farmers and other land managers working collaboratively to deliver environmental benefits from land. This study had three parts: a review of the potential benefits of collaborative management, case studies involving on-farm interviews with some 32 farmers in three areas of England, and an online consultation, intended to capture the wider views of farmers and land managers.

Users should note that only the data from the online consultation are available from the UK Data Archive (though some of the documentation from the case studies is also included). This part of the research invited farmers and land managers to respond to an online consultation. A survey, of some 29 questions, was placed on SurveyMonkey, and advertised to farmers through various websites. A total of 122 responses were received. It is these responses, in anonymised form, that are reported in this data collection. the aim of the consultation was to assess the willingness of farmers in three selected areas to work together, cooperatively, to jointly manage the environment under a formal agri-environmental scheme. information was gathered on participants' willingness to work with neighbouring farmers within formal agri-environmental agreements to form landscape-scale management groups.

Further information for this study may be found through the ESRC Research Catalogue webpage: Boundary Organisational Theory and Collaborative Conservation (BOTaCC).

Main Topics:

Collaboration, environment, stewardship, scale, agriculture.