Set‐aside landscapes: farmer perceptions and practices in England

Abstract

Set‐aside was introduced in the European Community in 1988 on a voluntary basis and, under the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy in 1992, it was a condition for the receipt of area payments for most arable farms in England. The areas of set‐aside land reached around 527 000 ha in England in 1994–95, falling to 253 000 ha in 1996–97. The implications of set‐aside for landscape and biodiversity are discussed, drawbig on farm questionnaire surveys, supplemented by field studies of biodiversity. The majority of farmers adopted rotational set‐aside, and while crop yield and economic factors were the most important factors in selecting land to set‐aside, there were few signs of substantial differences between set‐aside and other areas of arable land. Most rotational set‐aside was under natural regeneration, sprayed with non‐selective herbicides in the spring. For the much less frequent non‐rotational set‐aside, there were similar areas of natural regeneration and sown grass covers. Other forms of cover, including industrial crops, were much less frequent. The farmer perception was that set‐aside caused few agronomic problems. The farmers felt that set‐aside did not improve the look of the landscape and felt that the benefits to wildlife were greatest from non‐rotational set‐aside, while field studies suggest that the benefits are typically greater for rotational set‐aside, especially for farmland birds. Under Agenda 2000, it is proposed to set the set‐aside rate at 0% (voluntary set‐aside will still be allowed), and to rely on agri‐environment schemes to generate environmental benefits from agricultural landscapes. While this may be appropriate for plants and landscape quality, it will be hard to replace the resources made available to farmland birds by the large areas of set‐aside land which may be lost.