Institut für Sozialwissenschaften des Agrarbereichs

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hohpublica.uni-hohenheim.de/handle/123456789/18

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AKIS in England - overview and spotlights
(2024-11-11) Knierim, Andrea; Ingram, Julie
A situation analysis of the AKIS in England was undertaken in the time from January to May 2024 with a special focus on the private sector advisory subsystem’s actor constellation and performance based on grey and peer reviewed literature, expert and stakeholder interviews. Results show a particular diversity of actor types, characterised by different organisational features. Thus, it seems that in many places in England, farmers have many choices among service providers when it comes to making use of advisory services. Secondly, the public actor, the governmental department for environment, food and rural affairs (DEFRA) plays a fostering role for offering advisory services in combination with setting up ecosystem service and climate mitigation related measures. Thirdly, a shared conviction of the advantages of peer-to-peer learning formats among all service providing actors in the AKIS was observed as well as a readiness to collaborate with other AKIS actors across all organisational types and subsystems. On the other hand, there is a widely expressed need of coordination among AKIS actors, but no strategic planning or initiative in this regard. Former significant actors have shifted or reduced their roles and influence and, there is a considerable number of hybrid initiatives and innovation networks emerging, which represent and promote an array of new farming practices, technologies and food (production) styles and bridge various communities of farmers, researchers, consumers, citizens and other actors. Although the present study fulfils its objective of providing a (snapshot) overview of the AKIS in England, it equally reveals the blind spots and information deficits with respect to farmers’ needs and interests and the degree to which they are satisfied through the diversity of service actors.
Social assessment of miscanthus cultivation in Croatia: Assessing farmers' preferences and willingness to cultivate the crop
(2023) Marting Vidaurre, Nirvana A.; Jurišić, Vanja; Bieling, Claudia; Magenau, Elena; Wagner, Moritz; Kiesel, Andreas; Lewandowski, Iris
Social aspects of miscanthus cultivation have been investigated in a limited way in the scientific literature. Adopting existing frameworks for social life‐cycle assessment enables assessments to include numerous social aspects; however, the relevance of these aspects depends on the local context. This study aims to identify the most relevant social aspects from the farmers' perspective using a previously proposed framework for the assessment of the stakeholder ‘farmer’. It is based on a case study for miscanthus production in Sisak Moslavina in Croatia. The existence of abandoned lands in Croatia presents an opportunity for the cultivation of miscanthus as a potential source of biomass for the production of bio‐based materials and fuels. The study seeks to assess the feasibility of cultivating miscanthus in the region, taking into account potential challenges and opportunities, as well as farmers' willingness to adopt the crop, and to understand the reasons behind land abandonment. We conducted a survey among 44 farmers in the region and used a scoring method to identify the most relevant social aspects. The aspects most valued by the farmers were health and safety, access to water, land consolidation and rights, income and local employment, and food security. Responses to the question of whether they would adopt the crop highlight the importance of an established market, good trading conditions and profitability of cultivation. The survey also enabled an understanding of farmers' preferences with respect to the production conditions of crops. The farmers regarded the provision of subsidies as one of the main factors that render a crop attractive. Opportunities for the adoption of the miscanthus cultivation include high yields and low input requirements. Barriers include land conflicts and land availability. Despite the opportunities for miscanthus development in the region, there are important challenges to consider for successful implementation of the crop.

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