OpenFields

Farming and Rural Economy issues facing the South-West English Uplands

A paper that outlines the economic issues for upland farming in South West England with potential impacts on rural tourism and landscape. It offers some signs of hope for improved hill livestock farm livelihoods, coupled with increased grazing pressure for landscape care.

Year of Publication2009

Livestock farming characterises established English upland management. Economic pressures on hill farming already exacerbated by low market prices, TB and increasing costs of regulations, have intensified since the loss of headage payments per animal kept and their replacement by a Single Farm Payment from 2005. In the SW uplands, the consequent reduction in numbers of livestock and of farms keeping livestock has been combined with milder winters and warm, wetter summers allowing the development of scrub vegetation. The upland landscapes that tourists come to visit depend on grazing management as a principal tool for their maintenance. Rural tourism, including agro-ecotourism is vital to the SW upland rural economy. This paper outlines the situation and offers some signs of hope for improved hill livestock farm livelihoods, coupled with increased grazing pressure for landscape care.

This item is categorised as follows

• Subject Collection > Rural policy & development
• Subject Collection > Environmental impact
• Subject Collection > Rural policy & development > Economic development
• Subject Collection > Environmental impact > Wildlife & biodiversity
• Subject Collection > Livestock & dairy
• Subject Collection > Environmental impact > Landscape
• Subject Collection > Environmental impact > Managing land for environmental benefit
• Subject Collection > Rural policy & development > UK rural policy

Additional keywords/tags

upland policyaonb