The impacts of agricultural change (1963–2003) on the grassland flora of Central England: processes and prospects

Abstract

Summary The goal of UK agricultural policy between the late 1940s and the 1980s has been increased agricultural production. Since the build-up of huge agricultural surpluses in the mid-1980s, there has been a shift towards more environmentally sensitive policies. Here we have studied the impact of these policies on the grassland flora of Central England. We present evidence that an agricultural assessment of the ‘potential quality of land for agriculture’ defines the basic properties of the ecological landscape. In the agriculturally favoured lowlands nearly all of the grassland, both improved and semi-natural, has been replaced by arable fields. Little semi-natural grassland remains and is generally abandoned. Nationally important conservation sites for grassland are few and in poor condition. Rates of extinction of locally rare grassland species are high. Within the uplands, which are less suitable for productive agriculture, grasslands predominate and, even though half of the species-rich meadows disappeared between 1980 and 1995, the area has much greater conservation interest. The conservation problems facing grasslands within our study area (small, typically abandoned remnants of semi-natural grassland in agriculturally productive landscapes, larger grazed sites in regions of lower agricultural productivity) appear similar to those elsewhere in UK and in other CLIMB sites. This suggests that common European solutions for the conservation of grasslands can and should be sought. In particular, since conservation appears more effective in areas of lower agricultural productivity, we should pay more attention to relationships between fertility and economic yield. We should consider whether some current agri-environment schemes, particularly national ones involving flat-rate payments, are appropriate tools for the conservation of a country's natural grassland heritage.