The Evaluation of key factors that lead to successful agri-environment co-operative schemes (Welsh Assembly Government)
Jane Mills, Julie Ingram, Matt Reed, Chris Short and Janet Dwyer with CCRI Research Associate, David Gibbon and Allan Butler from Exeter University worked on this project in 2008 for the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) which sought to identify the challenges and appropriate policy approaches to securing successful agri-environment co-operation in Wales. This was of interest to the WAG who recognised that collective agri-environment schemes could encourage the delivery of landscape-scale and environmental benefits through co-operative action. The research was achieved in three phases. The first phase involved an extensive literature review which critically examined behavioural change mechanisms within agriculture that are available to policy-makers to secure agri-environmental outcomes. The second phase comprised a review of 25 co-operatives which were trying to secure environmental outcomes on farmland in order to identify key success factors. The third phase involved an in-depth study of three farmer co-operatives in Wales, involving face-to-face interviews, social network analysis and participatory workshops.
The research made 30 recommendations on appropriate mechanisms to be used in collective agri-environment schemes and ways of developing agri-environment co-operative working through farmer engagement and group capacity building. The findings were presented at a workshop attended by a number of WAG policy leads and the Director of Rural Affairs and Heritage.
