The Finance Acts 1998 and 2000: can the owners of agricultural land continue to gain from their capital disposals?

This paper seeks to analyse and discuss, from the perspective of the owners of agricultural land, the main changes to the Capital Gains Tax regime introduced in the Finance Act 1998 and subsequently amended in the Finance Act 2000. The replacement of indexation with a new Taper relief is examined, along with the phasing out of Retirement relief, and the interaction of Taper relief with Rollover relief. The opportunity for tax mitigation by the owners of agricultural land is critically examined.

The impact of an insecticide on insect flower visitation and pollination in an agricultural landscape

1 Pesticides are considered a threat to pollinators but little is known about the potential impacts of their widespread use on pollinators. Less still is known about the impacts on pollination, comprising the ecosystem service that pollinators provide to wildflowers and crops. 2 The present study measured flower visitation and pollination in an agricultural landscape, by placing potted flowering plants (Petunia sp.) in vine fields sprayed with a highly toxic insecticide (fenitrothion). During two sampling rounds, insect visitors to the petunias were observed and measures of pollination were recorded by counting and weighing seeds. 3 In the earlier sampling round, a lower species richness of insect visitors was observed in fields that had received an early application of insecticide. No negative impacts were found from later applications. The results obtained suggest a greater potential harm to insect pollinators and flower visitation as a result of insecticide application early in the season. 4 No reduction in pollination was found in fields that received an early insecticide application. Pollination was greater with two insecticide applications between sampling rounds rather than one application. 5 In the present study system, insecticide application had a negative effect on pollinators but a possible positive effect on pollination services. In some cases, it may be that actions for conserving biodiversity will not benefit pollination services to all plants.

Novel margin management to enhance Auchenorrhyncha biodiversity in intensive grasslands

Agricultural intensification, including changes in cutting, grazing and fertilizer regimes, has led to declines in UK and NW European grassland biodiversity. We aimed to develop field margin management practices that would support invertebrate diversity and abundance on intensively managed grassland farms, focusing on planthoppers and leafhoppers (Auchenorrhyncha). Replicated across four farms in south-west England, we manipulated conventional management practices (inorganic fertilizer, cutting frequency and height, and aftermath grazing) to create seven treatments along a gradient of decreasing management intensity and increasing sward architectural complexity. Auchenorrhyncha were sampled annually between 2003 and 2005. Auchenorrhyncha abundance and species richness was highest in the most extensively managed treatments. Abundance was lowest with frequent cutting, while species richness was lowest where cattle grazing occurred. Unexpectedly, application of inorganic fertilizer had no effect on Auchenorrhyncha abundance or species richness. Management options that enhance invertebrate diversity, while allowing the remainder of the field to be managed conventionally, represent a potentially important conservation tool for many lowland improved grasslands. Extensification of conventional management in field margin areas of such grasslands are likely to benefit this numerically dominant component of grassland invertebrate fauna. These management practices have the potential to be incorporated into existing UK and European agri-environment schemes.

On-farm management of rice genetic diversity: understanding farmers' knowledge on rice ecosystems and varietal development

The paper highlights the methodological development of identifying and characterizing rice (Oryza sativa L.) ecosystems and the varietal deployment process through participatory approaches. Farmers have intricate knowledge of their rice ecosystems. Evidence from Begnas (mid-hill) and Kachorwa (plain) sites in Nepal suggests that farmers distinguish ecosystems for rice primarily on the basis of moisture and fertility of soils. Farmers also differentiate the number, relative size and specific characteristics of each ecosystem within a given geographic area. They allocate individual varieties to each ecosystem, based on the principle of ‘best fit’ between ecosystem characteristics and varietal traits, indicating that competition between varieties mainly occurs within the ecosystems. Land use and ecosystems determine rice genetic diversity, with marginal land having fewer options for varieties than more productive areas. Modern varieties are mostly confined to productive land, whereas landraces are adapted to marginal ecosystems. Researchers need to understand the ecosystems and varietal distribution within ecosystems better in order to plan and execute programmes on agrobiodiversity conservation on-farm, diversity deployment, repatriation of landraces and monitoring varietal diversity. Simple and practical ways to elicit information on rice ecosystems and associated varieties through farmers’ group discussion at village level are suggested.

Contributing understanding of mitigation options for phosphorus and sediment to a review of the efficacy of contemporary agricultural stewardship measures

Experiences from the Mitigation Options for Phosphorus and Sediment (MOPS) projects, which aim to determine the effectiveness of measures to reduce pollutant loading from agricultural land to surface waters, have been used to contribute to the findings of a recent paper (Kay et al., 2009, Agricultural Systems, 99, 67–75), which reviewed the efficacy of contemporary agricultural stewardship measures for ameliorating the water pollution problems of key concern to the UK water industry. MOPS1 is a recently completed 3-year research project on three different soil types in the UK, which focused on mitigation options for winter cereals. MOPS1 demonstrated that tramlines can be the major pathway for sediment and nutrient transfer from arable hillslopes, and that although minimum tillage, crop residue incorporation, contour cultivation, and beetle banks also have potential to be cost-effective mitigation options, tramline management is the one of the most promising treatments for mitigating diffuse pollution losses, as it was able to reduce sediment and nutrient losses by 72–99% in four out of five site years trialled. Using information from the MOPS projects, this paper builds on the findings of Kay et al. to provide an updated picture of the evidence available and the immediate needs for research in this area.

Do Integrated Arable Farming Systems provide a more sustainable form of agricultural production: the UK case

Integrated Arable Farming Systems (IAFS) projects utilise a range of novel and different farming techniques, often associated with optimising or reducing the use of inputs. Here, data is presented from the LINK-IFS project which suggests that, although input levels are being reduced, the overall profitability of the system can be maintained. The effect of thus reduction in inputs, however, in terms of impact on key environmental indicators is unclear.

Predicting the impact of the EU common agricultural policy reform in England: micro and macroeconomic aspects

In this article we investigate the effects of the European CAP reform on a selection of arable crops in England, both at a regional and national level. The results show that the CAP reform will push farmers to adjust to the new market conditions, which will cause a further restructuring of the English agricultural business sector. Our results show that, under the new market conditions, economically-small farms will increase their output by allocating more land to cereals, whereas economically-large farms will need to decrease land allocated to cereals to reduce production costs and achieve better returns.

Farmers' willingness to pay for agricultural extension service: evidence from Nigeria

The study was undertaken to investigate how willing would farmers be to pay for agricultural extension service in Nigeria. A multistage random sampling technique was used to select 268 respondents. Results showed that most farmers (95.1 per cent) were willing to pay for improved extension service as long as the service remained relevant to their needs. Farmers were willing to pay N1000 annually as their own share of the service cost. The most important factors that influenced farmers’ willingness to pay were states of origin, items originally paid for, major occupation, minor occupation, number of years in school and sale of farm produce.

'Agricultural poverty' and the expansion of artisanal mining in sub-Saharan Africa: Experiences from southwest Mali and southeast Ghana

Why do people engage in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) – labour-intensive mineral extraction and processing activity – across sub-Saharan Africa? This paper argues that ‘agricultural poverty’, or hardship induced by an over-dependency on farming for survival, has fuelled the recent rapid expansion of ASM operations throughout the region. The diminished viability of smallholder farming in an era of globalization and overreliance on rain-fed crop production restricted by seasonality has led hundreds of thousands of rural African families to ‘branch out’ into ASM, a move made to secure supplementary incomes. Experiences from Komana West in Southwest Mali and East Akim District in Southeast Ghana are drawn upon to illustrate how a movement into the ASM economy has impacted farm families, economically, in many rural stretches of sub-Saharan Africa.

Factors affecting regional SMEs progression to Digital Business Ecosystems

SMEs are widely recognized as an important driving force of economic growth, yet, their uptake of ICT is still very low. Tosupport SMEs ICT adoption and to foster regional development, in 2000, the Lisbon Strategy on the Information Society andKnowledge-based economy created a vision for 2010 towards the creation of the European Digital Business Ecosystems(DBE). This paper is positioned within that context and reports upon a project involving 6000 SMEs whose aim was tosupport ICT adoption and to encourage SME networks through the creation of a Regional Business Portal. The papere xplores factors affecting the regional SMEs participating in the DBE. An in-depth longitudinal case study approach was adopted and multiple sources of evidence were used. Many factors affecting SMEs progression to DBE were identified:including people and organization, environmental, diffusion networks, technological, regional and time factors

The effect of farming system and fertilisers on pests and natural enemies: A synthesis of current research

Organic agriculture is becoming widespread due to increased consumer demand and regulatory and political support. Organic agriculture can increase arthropod diversity but the response of pests and their natural enemies is variable. Fertiliser is an important component of agricultural systems and its effects on pests and natural enemies will influence agroecosystems. In this study, meta-analysis and vote-counting techniques were used to compare farming system (organic and conventional) and fertiliser effects on arthropod pests and their natural enemies. The meta-analyses indicated that pests generally benefitted from organic techniques, this is particularly evident when experiments were carried out on a smaller scale. Pest responses to organic and conventional fertiliser types were divergent, plant composts benefitted pest arthropods while the opposite was true for manures, this has implications for pest management. Most natural enemy groups responded positively to organic farming although this was not true for Coleopterans. Experimental scale had a prominent impact on natural enemy responses with farm scale studies showing particularly positive effects of organic agriculture on natural enemies. This suggests that it is large scale features of organic agriculture such as landscape heterogeneity that are beneficial to natural enemies. Natural enemy responses to organic fertilisers were positive indicating that field scale management practices including fertiliser can also be important in pest management.

Determination of turbulent heat fluxes using a large aperture scintillometer over undulating mixed agricultural terrain

Scintillometry is an established technique for determining large areal average sensible heat fluxes. The scintillometer measurement is related to sensible heat flux via Monin–Obukhov similarity theory, which was developed for ideal homogeneous land surfaces. In this study it is shown that judicious application of scintillometry over heterogeneous mixed agriculture on undulating topography yields valid results when compared to eddy covariance (EC). A large aperture scintillometer (LAS) over a 2.4 km path was compared with four EC stations measuring sensible (H) and latent (LvE) heat fluxes over different vegetation (cereals and grass) which when aggregated were representative of the LAS source area. The partitioning of available energy into H and LvE varied strongly for different vegetation types, with H varying by a factor of three between senesced winter wheat and grass pasture. The LAS derived H agrees (one-to-one within the experimental uncertainty) with H aggregated from EC with a high coefficient of determination of 0.94. Chronological analysis shows individual fields may have a varying contribution to the areal average sensible heat flux on short (weekly) time scales due to phenological development and changing soil moisture conditions. Using spatially aggregated measurements of net radiation and soil heat flux with H from the LAS, the areal averaged latent heat flux (LvELAS) was calculated as the residual of the surface energy balance. The regression of LvELAS against aggregated LvE from the EC stations has a slope of 0.94, close to ideal, and demonstrates that this is an accurate method for the landscape-scale estimation of evaporation over heterogeneous complex topography.

Agricultural tenancy reform: the end of law; or a new popular culture?

This paper applies a reading of the postmodernisation of law to the incremental reform of agricultural holdings legislation over the last century. In charting the shifting legal basis of agricultural tenancies, from ‘black letter’ positivism to the cultural contextuality of sumptuary law, the paper theorises that the underlying political imperative has been allied to the changing significance of property ownership and use. Rather than reflecting the long-term official desire to maintain the let sector in British agriculture, however, the paper argues that this process has had other aims. In particular, it has been about an annexation of law to legitimise the retention of landowner power while presenting a rhetorical ‘democratisation’ of farming, away from its plutocratic associations and towards a new narrative of ‘depersonalised’ business.

The relationship between European Community agricultural Structural Policies and their implementation and agricultural succession and inheritance within Member States

This paper presents an overview of the European Union involvement in agricultural restructuring. By way of introduction it looks at the processes of farm replication operating in Europe and the forces behind them. It then considers the wider application of EU measures in each Member State and how they interrelate with the national property laws and social customs. In conclusion the paper appraises the restructuring policies by examining the balance between legitimising the concentration of property rights amongst a minority and the fragmentation of estates between the majority.

Agricultural tenancies: implied surrender and regrant and the operation of the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995

Agricultural tenancies arising after 1st September 1995 are mostly governed by the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995. As such, tenants under this Act do not benefit from the degree of protection conferred on tenancies already in existence, which remain under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986. Section 4 of the 1995 Act seeks to protect those tenancies which subsequently inadvertently undergo a surrender and regrant and which would otherwise lose the protection of the 1986 Act. This paper seeks to investigate, by relating recent case law and statute to the situation of agricultural tenancies, the occasions where surrender and regrant might occur and whether in such instances the protection of the 1986 Act will be lost.