Water and wildlife on a commercial farm: multifunctional management of set-aside and other natural resources in lowland England.

Abstract

Natural resource management on farmland can often be multifunctional. At Loddington, the Allerton Project's research and demonstration farm in Leicestershire, England, the set-aside area necessary to qualify for Arable Area Payments is used to achieve environmental benefits. These include planting of crops for wildlife, and the creation of a riparian buffer strip that protects watercourses from pollutants from arable land while also providing a wetland habitat. These habitats are exploited by wild gamebirds, as well as other wildlife. At Loddington, a management system integrating commercial farming, set-aside obligations, game management and other environmental objectives has also resulted in increases in numbers of nationally declining songbird species. This principle could be applied more widely in Europe. Objectives and implementation vary from field to farm and landscape/catchment scale, requiring varying levels of collaboration between farmers, according to farm size in different regions. However, this project demonstrates that a range of environmental objectives can be integrated into a farm business, satisfying current Rural Development objectives for multi-functional management and use of natural resources.