Producers’ dominant rationale was to improve their market access, thereby often resorting to more conventional practices

The gap

Evidence profile

Sourced from the abstract and recommendations and future work of the source papers, classified as general, drawn from work published between 2024 and 2026, spanning 3 journals. Those papers have been cited 9 times in total.

Supporting evidence — 3 representative gaps

• Assessing the integration of agroecological principles in smallholder farming systems in North African irrigated plains (2024) · Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems · cited 9× · doi

  Although producers’ dominant rationale was to improve their market access, thereby often resorting to more conventional practices, we nevertheless noted interesting practices such as mixed crop and livestock production, which could facilitate the transition to more agroecological systems in these lowlands where production factors are scarce.

  generalabstractevidence 5/5
  Keywords: practices production producers dominant rationale improve market access thereby often resorting conventional nevertheless noted interesting
• Effect of Land Speculators Activities on Crop Farming Management Practices in Akinyele Local Government Area, Oyo State (2026) · NIU journal of social sciences. · doi

  The following recommendations were made from the findings of the study: - Extension services should seek to deploy intervention programmes that will intensify dissemination land management strategies in improving crop farming practices for increased productivity among farmers. information on - There should be strict compliance to land use act and town planning master plan as designed by the government planning authorities, such that lands are not committed to the purpose they are not meant for. Farmers should be given enough notice to round up their farming activities to avert being abruptly chased out of their farmland, making them lose their investments, where it becomes inevitable that land be acquired for other purposes aside agriculture - - There should be a thorough examination of the quality or fertility of the land, such that only lands that have been depleted in fertility and nutrients are committed to other purposes aside agricultural production

  generalrecommendationsevidence 5/5
  Keywords: land farming farmers there planning lands committed purposes aside fertility following recommendations made extension services
• Regenerative agriculture in the UK: Stakeholder perspectives and tensions around livestock's role in sustainable land management (2026) · Journal of Rural Studies · doi

  In the following sections, we first review quantitative data and the historical and policy-related context of livestock farming in the UK. We then summarise existing literature that explores its dominance through mediated narratives. 2.1. Land management for livestock While farm-level productivity in the UK has continued to increase through intensification and technological improvements over the past decades, this occurred within a broader system reconfiguration char- acterised by substantial inefficiencies in land use and overall food supply (Benton and Bailey, 2019; Climate Change Committee, 2020; Dimbleby, 2021). The UK's agriculture is overwhelmingly oriented towards live- stock. Currently, around 85% of the total utilised agricultural area is dedicated to animal feed or animal production, accounting for all grassland pastures, and a 58% share of arable land used for growing feed crops rather than crops for direct human consumption (Defra, 2024). Put differently, crops for direct human consumption are produced on around only 15% of agricultural land. U. Ehgartner and S. Hirth Journal of Rural Studies 126 (2026) 104314 Long-term trends of land use in the UK are driven by intensification and specialisation (fewer mixed crops, and gradual expansion of pasture to support livestock). Since the 1940s, due to mechanization, hedgerow loss, and increased chemical and nutrient inputs, pastures have become more homogenized (e.g. with simplified habitats and altered plant communities, leading to declines in biodiversity and populations of specialist mammals and invertebrates; House of Commons, 2019; Robinson and Sutherland, 2002). Over the past 150 years, numbers of grazing livestock in the UK have generally increased, though there have been significant fluctuations since the 1970s. In terms of cattle, declines were largely driven by policy interventions such as milk quotas and market changes related to falling profitability, with disease outbreaks like Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and foot-and-mouth magnifying the reductions. In terms of sheep, numbers increased sharply in the 1980s and early 1990s due to subsidies paid under the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) framework. Profitability was improved, while subsequent foot-and-mouth outbreaks caused a signif- icant temporary drop. Thus, alongside disease outbreaks linked to intensification, the management of livestock has been largely driven towards intensification by market changes and policy interventions (House of Commons, 2019). Throughout these periods, livestock grazing has been and continues to remain structurally significant within

  generalfuture workevidence 5/5
  Keywords: livestock land policy intensification crops agricultural driven increased outbreaks related management past within towards around

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