The Political Ecology of Hedgerows and Their Relationship to Agroecology and Food Sovereignty in the UK

Abstract

Hedgerows can make an important contribution to agroecological transitions and to an overall contribution to multifunctional agro-ecosystems with multiple benefits for biodiversity, climate change mitigation, soil health, human health, well-being, and livelihoods. Where such agroecological transition assumes the form of political agroecology, this can underpin transformation of the farming system towards food sovereignty. Current mismanagement of hedgerows is constraining the optimum delivery of ecosystem services by these important features of the British landscape. This mismanagement is, moreover, an integral part of a (capitalist) productivist degradation of the countryside that is contributing to the delivery of ecosystem disservices and is, therefore, antithetical to the adoption of agroecological production practises. Being contrary to the requirements of political agroecology, it is similarly antithetical to the requirements of food sovereignty. In response, this paper outlines what appears to be required, in policy and political terms, for the adoption of an agroecological and food sovereignty framework enabling the sustainable management of hedgerows and maximising their potential for ecosystem services delivery.

Ill Fares the Land: Confronting Unsustainability in the U.K. Food System through Political Agroecology and Degrowth

“…Research should ask what role multiple agents of change might play in a degrowth transformation and how their political agendas might intersect or conflicthere, complementing prior work addressing political (class) positionalities and discourses [4,[10][11][12]15,16], the present paper will delineate these positionalities and discourses and argue that dominant class interests in the U.K., in upholding capitalism in various forms, impose strong constraints on a degrowth agenda; • More research is needed to identify, critique, and theorise the roles that state and non-state and systemic or anti-systemic actors may have in promoting or inhibiting degrowth transformation of agri-food systems-here, again, Guerrero Lara et al appear to have overlooked work in precisely this area [4,10,[15][16][17], and in the present paper, we build on this theorisation of the state in relation to systemic and anti-systemic class interests to explore the dynamics of the U.K. food system; • Finally, in bringing in the more-than-human dimension, this paper will continue the theme developed elsewhere [4,9,10,15,20] that ecological sustainability should be a fundamental desideratum of an enduring and stable social metabolism. Moreover, the paper will address explicitly the relationship between the U.K. food system and biodiversity conservation.…”

“…• Research addressing peasant/indigenous movements and decoloniality should move centre stage-here, the following publications should be noted [4,9,10,15,16,18,19], and the present paper will build on this work by specifying the 'ecological imperialism' of the U.K. food system;…”

Weed communities are more diverse, but not more abundant, in dense and complex bocage landscapes

“…An exciting avenue for research on bocage landscapes is the description of hedgerow quality at landscape scale, which could improve our understanding of the role of bocage on biodiversity conservation and agricultural production. Hedgerows that have survived agricultural intensification are being degraded in Brittany, through inappropriate management or neglect (Alignier & Baudry, 2015), like in many other European regions (Deckers et al, 2004; Litza & Diekmann, 2017; Tilzey, 2021). Hedgerows that lose structure and density have less impact on field microclimate, which probably undermines the beneficial effects of hedgerows on weed communities, as well as many other functions (e.g., provision of food and habitats for biodiversity, soil and water protection, crop and livestock protection, carbon sequestration).…”

“…Hedgerows that lose structure and density have less impact on field microclimate, which probably undermines the beneficial effects of hedgerows on weed communities, as well as many other functions (e.g., provision of food and habitats for biodiversity, soil and water protection, crop and livestock protection, carbon sequestration). Management practices that preserve the structure and functionality of hedgerows include coppicing or hedge‐laying, reduction of flailing frequency, preservation of tall trees with large canopies at frequent intervals, and protection from both browsing by domestic animals and agrochemical drifts (Tilzey, 2021). Following these guidelines, a network of well‐preserved hedgerows in the landscape should favour agroecological weed management and biodiversity conservation.…”

Who profits from agroecology to secure food and nutrition? On access of women to markets and assets

“…They may also have better chances to access inputs (seeds, lands) and to cooperate with others to sell their product to the agroecological market. The additional benefits from these social networks among rural farmers, may explain the role of the attendance of peer to peer meetings on the food security and nutrition status of farmers (De Schutter, 2010;Tilzey, 2021). The next section deals with the market dependency variable.…”