Multi-tier archetypes to characterise British landscapes, farmland and farming practices

A - Papers appearing in refereed journals

Goodwin, C. E. D., Butikofer, L., Hatfield, J. H., Evans, P. M., Bullock, J. M., Storkey, J., Mead, A., Richter, G. M., Henrys, P. A., Pywell, R. F. and Redhead, J. W. 2022. Multi-tier archetypes to characterise British landscapes, farmland and farming practices. Environmental Research Letters. 17 (9), p. 095002. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac810e

AuthorsGoodwin, C. E. D., Butikofer, L., Hatfield, J. H., Evans, P. M., Bullock, J. M., Storkey, J., Mead, A., Richter, G. M., Henrys, P. A., Pywell, R. F. and Redhead, J. W.
Abstract

Due to rising demand for both food and environmental services, agriculture is increasingly required to deliver multiple outcomes. Characterising differences, across agricultural landscapes, via the identification of broad archetypal groupings, is an important step in exploring spatial patterns in the capacity of land to deliver these potentially competing functions. Creating characterisations at multiple levels, for landscape and farm management, can allow policy-makers and land managers to harmonise delivery of ecosystem services at different intervention scales.
This can identify ways to increase the complementarity of public goods and the sustainability of farmed landscapes. We used data-driven machine learning to create landscape and agricultural management archetypes (1 km resolution) at three levels, defined by opportunities for adaptation. Tier 1 archetypes quantify broad differences in soil, land cover and population across Great Britain, which cannot be readily influenced by the actions of land managers; Tier 2 archetypes capture more nuanced variations within farmland-dominated landscapes of Great Britain, over which land managers may have some degree of influence. Tier 3 archetypes are built at national levels for England and Wales and focus on socioeconomic and agro-ecological characteristics within
farmland-dominated landscapes, characterising differences in farm management. By using a non-nested hierarchy, we identified which types of management are restricted to certain landscape settings, and which are applicable across multiple landscape contexts. Understanding variation
within and between agricultural landscapes and farming practices has implications for planning environmental sustainability and food security. It can also aid understanding of the scale at which interventions could be most effective, from incentivising changes in farmer behaviour to policy drivers of large-scale land use change.

Year of Publication2022
JournalEnvironmental Research Letters
Journal citation17 (9), p. 095002
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac810e
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
FunderBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Publisher's version
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online18 Aug 2022
Publication process dates
Accepted14 Jul 2022
PublisherIOP Publishing Ltd
ISSN1748-9326

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