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Impact: Policy and economic: Introduction of the concept of High Nature-Value (HNV) Farming and embedding this into EU Rural Development Policy: Guidelines and policy options for exploiting the concept have been refined such that the EC has incorporated the care of HNV into legislation and Rural Development planning.
Significance: HNV farming recognises that sustaining or enhancing biodiversity is a central feature of the management of rural areas.
Attribution: Prof. McCracken (SRUC)
Beneficiaries: Policy makers in all Member States of the EU.
Reach: All EU member states. It is estimated that HNV farming systems are being practiced on 30% (i.e. 52 million ha) of EU agricultural land.
Professor Martin Dangerfield's research has focused on subregional cooperation in post-Cold War Europe with special emphasis on interactions with broader European integration processes. Its significance was acknowledged by policy-making communities at national, subregional and EU level. Dangerfield was appointed to advisory roles in events that both debated and informed public policy and enhanced public awareness. These concerned multilateral foreign policy cooperation of new EU members, namely the Visegrad Group (VG), and conception, design and implementation of a major EU initiative — the `Macro-Regional Strategy'. Dangerfield's work has also been cited widely in relevant non-academic publications produced for policy analysis and to deliver recommendations.
The UK's decision to introduce voluntary modulation led directly from research conducted at Newcastle University between 1993 and 2008 which demonstrated conclusively that broadening the scope of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidies beyond supporting agricultural production through `modulation' would greatly benefit the environment and rural economies. The success of modulation in the UK then led to compulsory modulation being introduced throughout the European Union (EU). Up to 2013 modulation has generated outstanding impacts by providing more than €10 billion of new funding for environmental management and rural development across the EU.
The Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) has undertaken research providing a sustained contribution to understanding beneficiary-focused EU and UK rural development (RD) policies. This used novel, context-sensitive and mixed-method evaluation techniques to capture complex, systemic impacts and diagnose causal linkages between design and delivery, and policy performance. In so doing it has generated direct impacts in improved RD policy making and evaluation. The research has influenced restructuring in EU policy frameworks for RD and changed England's upland policy. By increasing policymakers' understanding of farm-level behaviours and responses to agri-environmental policy goals, CCRI's research has stimulated better-communicated and integrated advisory approaches.
56% of the European Union (EU) population and 35% of the population of Northern Ireland (NI) live in rural areas. While rural living is sometimes portrayed as an idyllic lifestyle, the reality often differs. Lower population density means that services are more limited than in urban areas, with different impacts for particular socio-economic groups, especially women. For example, lack of childcare provision can affect rural women's ability to work outside the home. The gendered nature of farm ownership means that farming policies have not always addressed farming women's needs. The research in this case study had the following impacts:
A body of research on agricultural geography, with a strong regional focus on the Welsh Marches (the English counties bordering Wales), has led to changes in conservation policy and practice relating to rare breeds, primarily at the national level but also internationally; it has shaped farming policy at the regional level, particularly in Herefordshire, specifically leading to increased diversification in the farming sector across the county; and it has stimulated policy debate around the place of farming in society.
The global financial crisis led the European Union (EU) to diversify its sources for the EU Budget, including co-financing instruments with multilateral development banks. Dr Robinson's research addressed key concerns about financial risk and the lack of transparency created through such partnerships. His research has been recognised as improving the understanding of these complex instruments within EU institutions and its impact may be measured through the implementation of several of its key recommendations. These include the creation of the `EBRD Representative for EU affairs' within a participating bank, the acceleration of EU co-financing strategy, and the unprecedented action of the EU Court of Auditors including the banks in their auditing process.
Achieving self-sufficiency in food production is a priority of the Malawi government. To this end, from 2005 the country has implemented a countrywide programme, costing at its peak over US$270 million and 16% of the national budget, to subsidize smallholder farmers' access to high-quality seed and fertilizer. Professor Andrew Dorward's research from 2007 to the present on the implementation and impact of the programme has assisted a range of stakeholders including the Malawi Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, international funders and national NGOs and Civil Society Organisations in making decisions and changing policies to improve its efficacy and effectiveness.
Research on the management and implementation of EU Cohesion policy has informed the legislative proposals made in 2011 by the European Commission for the reform of Cohesion policy. It has also influenced some organisational changes within the Commission introduced in early 2013. EU Cohesion policy is the second largest area of expenditure in the EU budget, currently worth c. €347bn for the 2007-13 period, and provides funding for regional socio-economic development programmes in all EU Member States. The legislative proposals influenced by the Strathclyde research affect every national, regional and local authority in the EU benefiting from EU Structural and Cohesion Funds.
This research initially discovered that, in response to reduced farm incomes from reform of the Common Agricultural Policy in the 1990's, a significant number of farm diversifications were being established by women, but these women were coming up against a number of barriers. A direct consequence of this research was the establishment of WiRE to promote, support and develop rural business women. A survey in 2010 of 334 of the 1,300 subscribing WiRE business members indicated that they generated in direct income nearly £35.3 million annually. Also during 2010 WiRE trained 117 business start-ups with a cumulative projected turnover, within two years, of £1m.