Exploring the efficacy of Catchment Sensitive Farming advice and examining ways of improving its delivery through the lens of credibility, relevance and legitimacy

Abstract

Poor water quality is a major challenge facing English watercourses, with most currently failing to achieve ‘healthy’ status according to the European Union’s Water Framework Directive. Advice delivery is one of several approaches used in the effort to reduce the contributions of diffuse water pollution from agriculture (DWPA) to the problem. The main objective of this doctoral study was to explore how effective farmers and advisors believe DWPA advice is for encouraging farmers to engage, with particular attention paid to Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF), a government-funded advisory initiative. Research is then undertaken to identify how DWPA advice could be improved, for example by disseminating more ‘hard’ evidence relating to whether farmers’ practices likely make significant contributions to water quality problems or by producing and disseminating informative video content. The objectives of the study were met by conducting a mixed-methods study consisting of an online questionnaire survey, telephone interviews, and focus groups. The views of over 300 farmers and almost 70 advisors from across England were gathered. The study was framed and analysed using an existing framework, CRELE, which consists of three attributes: credibility, relevance, and legitimacy. The triangulated findings deriving from the resulting empirical data led to the revelation that CRELE needed iterating when interpreting the results. Firstly, an additional component, accessibility, is added to the framework due to a need to ensure farmers can access DWPA advice with ease. Secondly, this research provides further confirmation that the efficacy of DWPA advice is being impeded by underlying structures and realities such as resource constraints placed on wider government bodies, excessive bureaucracy when applying for grant funding, and a perceived lack of enforcement and inspections associated with water quality regulations. These underlying structures and realities added a second dimension to the existing CRELE framework. The resulting novel framework was named ‘CREALITY’.

Policy recommendations are made throughout this research. If implemented, these recommendations may increase farmer engagement with CSF and other sources of DWPA advice, thus increasing the likelihood that this advice will contribute to water quality improvements.