Supporting complex decisions on land-use change

A framework to support making major decisions about on-farm change is described in a short Research Findings Brief, for farmers, growers, farm consultants, rural professionals and policy makers. This framework can help land managers be more certain that land-use change decisions are likely to meet their needs and concerns. Contact Alan Renwick at Lincoln University to find out more about accessing and using the MCDM tool. Key points

• This research plays a part in understanding, supporting and encouraging land-use change, specifically to ‘next generation systems’. Next-generation farm systems (such as redesigned or redeveloped systems and enterprises, new or novel enterprises, and new technologies) aim to reduce food production’s environmental footprint and maintain or increase profit.
• Deciding on land-use changes is a complex process that differs for every individual or group.
• Phase 1 of the Next Generation Systems programme developed, tested and applied a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) framework for supporting decision making about land-use change. The MCDM framework provides the ability to simultaneously consider multiple assessment criteria.
• Researchers worked with different types of land managers who were considering land-use changes.

Research Findings Brief prepared by Our Land and Water