Carrying Capacity of Traditional Farming in South East England: A Case Study

Gavin Nobes,Paul Francis Lovatt Smith

doi:10.12924/of2020.06010014

Abstract

Traditional farming in South East (SE) England is presented as a highly-evolved form of sustain- able farming. The carrying capacity of traditional farming on a 2.75 ha family smallholding in SE England is assessed from production data recorded over a period of 8 years. The key elements of the farming system were mixed farming (livestock, dairy, arable and horticultural), self-sufficiency in terms of inputs and organic principles. Ten types of food were produced with the aim to comprise all the elements of a balanced diet. The holding and farming system are described and an analysis of the food produced is presented, in terms of weight and energy content, for the years 2010 to 2017. An average carrying capacity of 0.64 people ha − 1 was demonstrated on the basis of food energy content alone. Carrying capacity increased to 1.09 people ha − 1 when production was re-proportioned to align with the UK Government’s currently recommended balanced diet. The latter figure is similar to carrying capacity estimates, derived from national statistics, for the UK’s total farmland in the middle part of the 20 th Century but significantly lower than theoretical predictions of national carrying capacity.

Highlights

Increasing concerns about the UK’s food security are focussing attention on the productivity of sustainable methods of farming
Holding could feed from traditional The carrying capacity results from this study are sigfarming on the basis of a balanced diet
The data, recorded nificantly less, by a factor of more than three, than the over a period of 8 years, showed a carrying capacity of 0.64 theoretical predictions of Fairlie (2007; [5]) and Mellanby people per hectare but the proportions of food types did (1975; [4]). It is not the purpose of this study to investigate not conform to a balanced diet

Summary

Introduction

Increasing concerns about the UK’s food security are focussing attention on the productivity of sustainable methods of farming. The local traditional farming system was chosen for this R = Food self-sufficiency ratio holding because it was deemed to be highly sustainable, P = Population ecologically-beneficial and fitted with the family’s lifestyle A = Agricultural land area (hectares) aims. Implicit in this definition is that the farming Despite all the effort and dietary restriction, by the end of system is sustainable and that the food provides a healthy, the war the national food self-sufficiency ratio was estimated or balanced, diet. Fairlie’s closest scenario to this case study is considered to be “Organic with Livestock” which was estimated to require 15.9 million ha of farmland, equating to a carrying self-sufficiency ratio capacity (persons per hectare) capacity of 3.81 people ha−1. Material and Methods duce comprised top fruit from an orchard area, hedgerow fruit and wild game

The Farm

The Balanced Diet Scenario

Study Period

Balanced Diet Scenario

Discussion