Reassessing agrarian policy and practice in local environmental management: the case of beef cattle

There are policy pressures to make agriculture more environmentally sustainable and to give a more local expression to agri-environmental priorities. This paper considers these moves, with particular reference to the beef sector, and speculates on the further policy responses required to facilitate benign local agri-environmental management. The UK beef sector is characterized by its complexity and diversity but four major systems can be identified operating at varying levels of intensity. Of these, suckler herds and grass-rearing systems have long been associated with high natural value forms of agricultural land management. Many of the cherished habitats and landscapes of the UK are dependent upon grazing for their ecological and amenity value. However a combination of the BSE crisis, the strength of sterling and the recent Foot & Mouth epidemic threatens the sustainability of these high nature value grazing systems. The importance of grazing to fifty selected Sites of Special Scientific Interest is highlighted in the paper. Survey work identified a wide range of systems to be particularly vulnerable to changes in profitability in the beef sector, including: coastal grazing marsh, wet acidic grassland / marshland, upland moor and heath, calcareous grassland and neutral grassland. To maintain these systems requires agricultural policy to be more sensitive to local conditions than appears currently to be the case. There is little policy support for beef farmers in a regional context, still less giving special prominence to those farming within particular biotopes. Nor has there been sufficient policy encouragement to markets for traditional and local beef breeds. The continuing pressure for CAP reform offers further opportunity for policies to be devolved to regions and localities

South West Uplands Initiative Evaluation, Final Report

In November 2010, the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) was commissioned by the Cornwall Development Company (CDC), South West Upland Initiative Partners and SWRDA to carry out a longitudinal evaluation study into the impact of the SWUI. The aim of this final report is to draw together, in one document, the key findings of the evaluation study presented in previous reports and to update the outputs achieved by June 2013

Incorporating agri-environment schemes into farm development pathways: A temporal analysis of farmer motivations

This paper aims to capture the complexity and dynamic nature of motivations for participation in agri-environment schemes (AESs). Specifically, it examines the extent to which decisions about family farm participation in Tir Gofal (TG), a whole farm AES in Wales, can be traced to long-term motivations for farm continuity; and how Tir Gofal fits into dynamic farm development pathways that farmers follow to ensure their continuity. It reports the findings from narrative style interviews with 25 TG agreement holders and 12 non-agreement holders across Wales. The results show that the continuance of the family farm is an important goal for agreement and nonagreement holders alike, and this is linked to enduring commercially or traditionally oriented values. Three broad sets of development pathways were identified and the extent to which TG fits in with these pathways is considered, with particular reference to different periods in the farm life cycle. The paper concludes that incorporating a temporal dimension into the wider question of farmers' participation in agri-environment schemes can help to improve understanding of farmers' behaviour particularly given the variety of possible opportunities currently open to, and used by, family farms

Historic Farmsteads: Preliminary Character Statement - East of England region

This document is one of eight Preliminary Character\ud Statements, which provide information on the\ud characteristics of traditional farm buildings in each\ud Region

Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Project-Based Engineering Education

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143092/1/6.2017-1377.pd

Discordant Immune Response with Antiretroviral Therapy in HIV-1: A Systematic Review of Clinical Outcomes.

BACKGROUND A discordant immune response (DIR) is a failure to satisfactorily increase CD4 counts on ART despite successful virological control. Literature on the clinical effects of DIR has not been systematically evaluated. We aimed to summarise the risk of mortality, AIDS and serious non-AIDS events associated with DIR with a systematic review. METHODS The protocol is registered with the Centre for Review Dissemination, University of York (registration number CRD42014010821). Included studies investigated the effect of DIR on mortality, AIDS, or serious non-AIDS events in cohort studies or cohorts contained in arms of randomised controlled trials for adults aged 16 years or older. DIR was classified as a suboptimal CD4 count (as defined by the study) despite virological suppression following at least 6 months of ART. We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library to December 2015. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane tool for assessing risk of bias in cohort studies. Two authors applied inclusion criteria and one author extracted data. Risk ratios were calculated for each clinical outcome reported. RESULTS Of 20 studies that met the inclusion criteria, 14 different definitions of DIR were used. Risk ratios for mortality in patients with and without DIR ranged between 1.00 (95% CI 0.26 to 3.92) and 4.29 (95% CI 1.96 to 9.38) with the majority of studies reporting a 2 to 3 fold increase in risk. CONCLUSIONS DIR is associated with a marked increase in mortality in most studies but definitions vary widely. We propose a standardised definition to aid the development of management options for DIR