Case Studies - Research
This research project was produced for a Steering Group of eight regional organisations, led by DEFRA.
The decline in the livestock industry in the East of England has lead to concerns that grassland in the region is becoming under-grazed. This is a particular issue on sites that require grazing for ecological and landscape reasons. Woolley was asked to carry out research in this area and also to publish a Beef & Sheep Pages guide to help farmers.
Fourteen case-study grazing sites were analysed across the East of England region to identify the barriers to grazing. Woolley then carried out research into how other regions were coping with undergrazing using telephone interviews. A short list of options for overcoming the barriers was drawn up, followed by an action plan, timetable and key milestones for each action.
This study resulted in a further project to help choose the best way for the organisations concerned with undergrazing in the region to work together to tackle the problem. The result was a business plan prepared by Woolley to set up the East of England Grazing Forum. www.grazingforum.co.uk
Policy Research for the Countryside Agency:
This contract considered the action that Government departments should take to ensure that the delivery of their polices and programmes through regional Government Offices takes account of rural needs and circumstances.
Download a summary of the research from the Commission for Rural Communities Website
This project was carried out in conjunction with the Norfolk branch of FWAG (Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group) and Otley College. The LaMIS website provides a single point of contact for land management data. It is to be used by farmers, land managers, advisors and agents. For this contract the consultancy team developed a set of user friendly interpretations for the GIS (Geographical Information System) map layers on the website and liaised with farmers and industry leaders to produce a user specification for the pilot website.