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Farmer co-operation in the UK: opportunities for the industry
Get PDFThis report for Co-operatives UK from the Royal Agricultural University includes insights into UK farmers’ current views on co‑operation – and highlights the potential benefits of greater collaboration.
Farmer co-operation in the UK: Opportunities for the industry recommends that UK farmer co-ops team up to help farmers collaborate on a “game-changing” scale and strengthen the sector in the face of Brexit upheaval
Ecological Interactions of the Sexually Deceptive Orchid Orchis Galilaea
No full textPlant species dependent on highly specific interactions with pollinators are vulnerable to environmental change. Conservation strategies therefore require a detailed understanding of pollination ecology. This two-year study examined the interactions between the sexually deceptive orchid, Orchis galilaea, and its pollinator Lasioglossum marginatum. Relationships were investigated across three different habitats known to support O. galilaea (garrigue, oak woodland, and mixed oak/pine woodland) in Lebanon. Visitation rates to flowers were extremely low and restricted to male bees. The reproductive success of O. galilaea under ambient conditions was 29.3% (±2.4), compared to 89.0% (±2.1) in plants receiving cross-pollination by hand. No difference in reproductive success was found between habitat types, but values of reproductive success were positively correlated to the abundance of male bees. Pollination limitation can have negative impacts on the population growth of orchids, and this study provides clear evidence for more holistic approaches to habitat conservation to support specific interactions
Neighbourhood Watch: Uptake of Neighbourhood Plans in Rural England
No full textThe use of neighbourhood plans by town and parish councils in rural England varies significantly, so Louise Cashmore and Katharine Foot carried out research in Northamptonshire to find what influences take-up
Neighbourhood planning was introduced in England by the Localism Act 2011, and offered a new opportunity for communities to develop policies that, following approval in a referendum, come into force as part of a local plan. In rural areas, it is town and parish councils that exercise neighbourhood planning rights; in rural Northamptonshire, however, only 25% of such councils had officially engaged with neighbourhood planning at the time we conducted our research last year. Northamptonshire is a county of average geographical size, and its two-tier governance structure allowed for comparisons to be made between communities in different local authority areas. Using the Rural Urban Classification produced by the government (https://bit.ly/29ONpO9), 268 Northamptonshire towns and parishes were identified as being “rural”. A questionnaire was sent to 267 town and parish councils, and 57 replied. Of these, 49% had had experience of the neighbourhood planning process, while 51% had not
Land Value Capture and Tax Increment Financing: Overview and Considerations for Sustainable Urban Investment
Get PDFThe paper reviews the notion of Land Value Capture (LVC), its advantages and disadvantages and relevance
to for urban growth management. LVC encompasses a wide range of mechanisms, applied in very diverse
contexts to monetize ‘windfall’ gains, accruing to landowners because of growth, infrastructure or placemaking projects. Despite widespread conviction that a proportion of these ‘unearned increments’ should
somehow be harvested for the wider public good, contention, legal and pragmatic challenges remain. As
policy makers confront population pressures, transport needs and inequality, LVC can help bridge
infrastructure funding gaps, accelerate housing provision and temper polarisation. Betterment taxes, Tax
Increment Finance (TIF) or participatory instruments like land readjustment can target ‘planning gains’
capitalized into land and property values near stations, historic monuments or upgraded precincts. As well
as flagging instrument diversity and variable contexts, the literature suggests LVC mechanisms work best in
a joined-up policy context. Ironically, spatial LVC schemes like TIF are most likely to fail when the
regeneration need is most acute. In America, inadequate governance, scrutiny or auditing undermined
schemes to fund transport or improve the public realm. In Europe LVC exists in a variety of modalities but
three European examples, suggests it remains underutilized. London megaprojects, UK regional housing
schemes and French sprawl, illustrate that policy makers have yet to adequately capture unearned
increment
Can Bio-labels help companies to gain competitive advantage in the organic food market in Germany?
Get PDFConsumers’ attitudes towards food underwent large changes in Germany. This has resulted in an increase of demand for organic food. However, some analysts claim that the organic food market in Germany might be maturing. Within this context, this paper has two main objectives: first, to explore the attitude of German consumers towards organic food and bio-labels; and second to identify potential areas for improvement to help organic food companies to become more competitive. This study used a quantitative research approach. 627 German consumers completed the survey. The results of this study indicate that there is potential for the organic food market to carry on growing. Findings have also revealed that a large percentage of participants do not trust some bio-labels. Trust and brand recognition are the most important factors that have helped Bioland and Demeter to develop a competitive advantage against other labels
Hedgerow agroforestry in England and Wales: increasing width to sequester additional carbon
Get PDFHedgerow systems are one of the more prominent agroforestry systems in temperate European
agriculture, and the UK has the second largest extent of these in the European Union (Herzog
2000; den Herder et al. 2016). An estimated 456 000 km of hedge in England and Wales has
been actively managed (Carey et al. 2008); which limits hedge outward growth, and maintains an
effective barrier to livestock (Pollard et al. 1974). This management consists of a short period
trimming cycle every 1 - 3 years, and a long period structural restoration cycle, after approximately
40 years growth (Staley et al. 2015). A mechanical flail is used for the short period trimming cycle
by 92% of farmers in England and Wales (Britt et al. 2011). Typical ‘Enclosure’ hedges in England
and Wales were planted with only hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), in single, or double rows,
from the 16th Century onwards (Maclean 2006). Hawthorn is still the dominant woody species,
found within 90% of hedges in England and Wales, but a mix of woody species is common, and
blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) is the second most frequent species, found within 50% of these
hedges (Barr et al. 2000).
The potential for temperate agroforestry to sequester carbon (C), and mitigate rising levels of
Green-House Gasses (GHG), is beginning to receive more attention (Udawatta and Jose 2012).
Axe et al. (2017) showed the potential to sequester C where wider managed hedges had greater
C stocks (t C km-1
). Allowing such hedges to grow wider from lateral branch growth only, without
increasing planting density, may not be the most effective way to accumulate Above Ground
Biomass (AGB) C. It also introduces uncertainty in using area C stock values (t C ha-1
) to estimate
AGB C (t C), as this parameter assumes a linear relationship with hedge width.
Here new data on the contribution made by blackthorn to AGB C stock, and the correlation
between hedge width and t C km-1
, from the pilot study of triennially flailed hedge biomass (Axe
et al. 2017), along with supporting evidence on shrub growth in unmanaged hedges (Küppers
1985), is examined to advance how atmospheric C could be sequestered by increasing hedge
width
Long-term Trends in Terrestrial and Marine Invertebrate Exploitation on the Eastern African Coast: Insights from Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar
No full textThe nature and trajectory of coastal and maritime adaptations, and the complex ways foraging economies have been structured to include both marine and terrestrial resources, are becoming key topics of interest in African archaeological research. There is, therefore, an increasing need to understand the longer-term context for more recent shifts in coastal economies, and for greater attention to be paid to the role of a broader spectrum of resources. This is particularly the case for terrestrial and marine molluscs, which have been somewhat overlooked in discussions centered on past economies in the region. The relative importance of these comparatively small-bodied faunal resources requires evaluation, particularly given their ubiquity within the archaeological record, and their potentially important contribution to dietary and economic practices. Kuumbi Cave, located in the southeast of Zanzibar (Unguja) Island, provides the ideal opportunity to investigate long-term trends in invertebrate use on the eastern African coast and islands. Here we discuss not only the trajectory of coastal resource exploitation and coastal economic adaptations in the region from the late Pleistocene, but also the significance of Kuumbi Cave as one of the few sites in eastern Africa that represents significant levels of exploitation of large terrestrial gastropods
Understanding veterinary leadership in practice
Get PDFFrom early in employment, veterinary surgeons adopt
a position of leadership, taking responsibility for case
management, client communication and the coordination
of the team of veterinary nurses and receptionists
who facilitate their role. With time, many progress
to become partners or directors within practice. A key
ambition of the Vet Futures Report is ‘exceptional leadership,’
yet to date there has been little formal leadership
training within the UK veterinary curriculums
and a notable absence of veterinary-specific leadership
literature.1
This vacuum in identifying the qualities of
exceptional leadership raises the question of how the
industry continues to progress, embracing the challenges
of corporate ownership, growing numbers of
veterinary surgeons and a turbulent macroenvironment
during, and post, Brexit negotiations.2
Historically, leadership research has tended to follow
a managerialist path,3 4 focusing analysis on alpha
white men within US leadership.5–7 As such, ethnocentric
leadership models pervade the literature. Critically,
these models ignore contextual variation, the influence
of leadership on the individuals within an industry and
complexity.6
Therefore, in recent decades, literature has
redirected to take a critical approach. In beginning to
understand the value of leadership studies to the veterinary
industry, the interconnection of leaders, followers,
context and purpose in each unique leadership situation
needs to be fully appreciated.8
Furthermore, to ensure
exceptional leadership, we must first recognise its inseparability
from the wellbeing of veterinary surgeons.
Given the Vet Futures’ ambition of ‘exceptional leadership’
coupled with the paucity of literature on leadership
in the veterinary industry, this study explores
the experiences of leadership among senior veterinary
surgeons (SVS), while acknowledging the complexity
of multifactorial influence and uniqueness of practice.
The value lies in reflecting on industry relevance.