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| 2. |
- Ahnström, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Farmers and nature conservation: What is known about attitudes, context factors and actions affecting conservation?
- 2009
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Ingår i: Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. - 1742-1705 .- 1742-1713. ; 24, s. 38-47
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Farmers' attitudes towards viability of specific conservation practices or actions strongly impact their decisions on adoption and change. This review of 'attitude' information reveals a wide range of perceptions about what conservation means and what the impacts of adoption will mean in economic and environmental terms. Farmers operate in a tight financial situation, and in parts of the world they are highly dependent on government subsidies, and cannot afford to risk losing that support. Use of conservation practices is most effective when these are understood in the context of the individual farm, and decisions are rooted in land and resource stewardship and long-term concerns about health of the farm and the soil. The attitudes of farmers entering agri-environmental schemes decide the quality of the result. A model is developed to show how attitudes of the farmer, the farming context and agri-environmental schemes interact and thus influence how the farming community affects nature and biodiversity. As new agri-environmental schemes are planned, agricultural development specialists need to recognize the complexity of farmer attitudes, the importance of location and individual farmer circumstances, and the multiple factors that influence decisions. We provide these insights and the model to conservation biologists conducting research in farming areas, decision makers who develop future agri-environmental schemes, educators training tomorrow's extension officers and nature conservationists, and researchers dealing with nature conservation issues through a combination of scientific disciplines.
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| 3. |
- Ahnström, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Farmers' Interest in Nature and Its Relation to Biodiversity in Arable Fields
- 2013
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Ingår i: International Journal of Ecology. - : Hindawi Publishing Corporation. - 1687-9708 .- 1687-9716.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Biodiversity declines in farmland have been attributed to intensification of farming at the field level and loss of heterogeneity at the landscape level. However, farmers are not solely optimizing production; their actions are also influenced by social factors, tradition and interest in nature, which indirectly influence biodiversity but rarely are incorporated in studies of farmland biodiversity. We used social science methods to quantify farmers’ interest in nature on 16 farms with winter wheat fields in central Sweden, and combined this with biodiversity inventories of five organism groups (weeds, carabid beetles, bumblebees, solitary bees, and birds) and estimates of landscape composition andmanagement intensity at the field level.Agricultural intensity,measured as crop density, and farmers’ interest in nature explained variation in biodiversity, measured as the proportion of the regional species richness found on single fields. Interest in nature seemed to incorporate many actions taken by farmers and appeared to be influenced by both physical factors, for example, the surrounding landscape, and social factors, for example, social motivations.This study indicates that conservation of biodiversity in farmland, and design of new agri-environmental subsidy systems, would profit from taking farmers’ interest in nature and its relation to agricultural practices into account.
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| 6. |
- Ahnström, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Swedish Farmers Talking about Nature – A Study of the Interrelations between Farmers' Values and the Sociocultural Notion of Naturintresse
- 2011
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Ingår i: Sociologia Ruralis. - : Wiley. - 0038-0199 .- 1467-9523. ; 51, s. 420-435
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Agro-environmental schemes (AES) aim to counteract declining biodiversity on farmland and to improve ecosystem services, such as pollination and pest regulation. Studies show, however, that an involvement in AES does not lead to any substantive cognitive or motivational change in farmers' behaviour. Hermeneutic studies have tried to explain these modest effects by analysing farmers' mentalities and behaviour. This article contributes to these studies by using self-identifications and stories of 16 Swedish farmers about nature and AES to create a typology of different farmers' valuations. In pursuit of this objective the article establishes a conceptual link between these hermeneutic studies and so-called farming style analysis (FSA). The study lays bare latent points of friction between the views of these farmers and more conventional sociocultural notions about nature and nature conservation.
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| 7. |
- Ahnström, Ulrika, et al.
(författare)
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Detection and direction-finding of spread spectrum signals using correlation and narrowband interference rejection
- 2003
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Ingår i: Nordic Matlab Conference 2003.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- An algorithm for correlation-based detection of direct sequence spread spectrum signals with direction finding, including direction-filtering and narrow-band interference rejection, is implemented and evaluated in MATLAB. An analog noise-free signal is generated and sampled by a test-bed system. Numerical simulations are run based on data corrupted by mutually uncorrelated white Gaussian noise sequences, and also with recorded noise from two spatially separated HF radio receivers. The simulations and measurements show promising results for detection and direction-finding of covert wideband signals in low SNR and in presence of narrowband interferers. Direction filtering is shown to improve the results.
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| 8. |
- Björklund, Johanna, et al.
(författare)
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Local selling as a driving force for increased on-farm biodiversity
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of Sustainable Agriculture. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1044-0046 .- 1540-7578. ; 33:8, s. 885-902
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper addresses the question of whether local selling of farm products improves on-farm biodiversity in rural areas. In contrast to the main agricultural trend of farms specializing and increasing in size in response to national and global markets, increasing numbers of Swedish farmers are diverting their efforts towards selling at local markets. Based on case studies of six farms selling their products locally, this paper explores the nature of the diversity on these farms and identifies qualities in the interaction between the farmers and their consumers that are supporting this diversity. The study showed that farmers who interacted with consumers were encouraged to diversify their production. Marketing a large diversity of products at a local market led to better income for participating farmers. Animal farms maintained important biodiversity associated with their extensive way of rearing animals on semi-natural pastures. Access to local markets promoted this.
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| 9. |
- Caruso, Alexandro, et al.
(författare)
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Different patterns in species richness and community composition between trees, plants and epiphytic lichens in semi-natural pastures under agri-environment schemes
- 2015
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Ingår i: Biodiversity and Conservation. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0960-3115 .- 1572-9710. ; 24, s. 1729-1742
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Agri-environment schemes (AES) have been established to counteract negative effects of agricultural intensification on e.g. semi-natural pastures and meadows. The efficiency of most AESs have, however, been poorly evaluated. We evaluated the success of a Swedish AES for the management of semi-natural pastures by comparing species richness and composition of vascular plants (except trees), epiphytic lichens and trees among pastures receiving higher (high value pastures) and lower levels of AES paymens (general value pastures). There was no difference in the number of tree species among high and general value pastures, even though AES regulations allow a maximum of 60 and 100 trees/ha in general and high value pastures, respectively. High value pastures had, however, a higher number of plant and epiphytic lichen species than common value pastures. Moreover, a higher number of pasture specialist plant species were indicative of high value pastures than of general value pastures. No lichen species indicating high value pastures are associated with habitats with low canopy cover (such as e.g. pastures). Finally, tree identity was an important factor for explaining the number and composition of epiphytic lichen species. Our study highlights that species groups can respond differently to agri-environment schemes and other conservation measures. Even though the effects are the desired on the diversity of one assessed taxon, this is not always the case for non-target organism groups.
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| 10. |
- Caselunghe, Elvira, et al.
(författare)
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Landscape and Place Concepts Meeting through Encounters between Birdwatchers and Farmers
- 2010
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Determining stakeholders‘ different perspectives on the same place can create an important platform for processes of mutual learning in natural resource management. We have interviewed farmers and birdwatchers who were members in a project called Swedish birdwatchers and farmers in cooperation. The aim of the project was to create discussions and meetings between these different users of the landscape; farmers and birdwatchers. In interviews were focused on their view of landscape, birds and nature conservation. To understand how the farmers and the birdwatchers perceive the landscape and discuss around this we use a landscape relation model created by Gustafsson (1993). The model describes three ways of relating to a landscape/place. According to Gustafsson people can relate to landscapes as 1) Pictorial landscapes, 2) Perception landscapes or 3) Identification landscapes. The different perspectives on the same landscape can derive from for example a person‘s function in the landscape and how long time that he or she has spent there. The model can also be a base for discussions about identities. How one perceive and relate to the landscape will affect how one uses and talk about the landscape, the species within the landscape and farm practice
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