Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy, and Anthropology

Photo of Professor Matt Lobley

Professor Matt Lobley

Professor of Rural Resource Management, Director of the CRPR

m.lobley@exeter.ac.uk

4539

01392 724539

Lazenby House G.02

Overview

I am a rural social scientist, with over 30 years of research experience, drawing primarily on the disciplines of Rural Sociology and Geography. I have a long-standing track record in the generation of external research income from a range of sources including Research Councils, Government Departments, NGOs, Charities and the private sector.  My research largely focuses on understanding influences on and impacts of farm household behaviour. In particular, my main interests relate to the role of farm households in the management of the countryside, for example, through exploring the impact of policy reform; attitudes towards agri-environmental policy; and the environmental and social impacts of agricultural restructuring. One of my main areas of expertise is in the mental health and well-being of farm households and family life-cycle and succession issues on family farms. I co-direct a collaborative international project (FARMTRANSFERS) exploring farm succession and retirement in a range of different social, economic and political contexts. Beyond agriculture and the environment, other research interests include the design and impact of rural development initiatives and, more broadly, the social sustainability of rural communities.

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Research

My research largely focuses on understanding influences on and impacts of farm household behaviour. In particular, my main interests relate to the role of farm households in the management of the countryside, for example, through exploring the impact of policy reform; attitudes towards agri-environmental policy; and the environmental and social impacts of agricultural restructuring.

I have led a number of projects on the health and well-being of farming people, including the largest ever survey of the health of the farming community in England and Wales (funded by RABI).

I also have a long standing interest in family life-cycle and succession issues on family farms and co-direct a collaborative international project (FARMTRANSFERS) exploring farm succession and retirement in a range of different social, economic and political contexts. Beyond agriculture and the environment, other research interests include the design and impact of rural development initiatives and, more broadly, the social sustainability of rural communities.

Selected current and recent projects

·       RENEW: Renewing biodiversity through a people-in-nature approach (2022-2027, NERC)

·       Labour market information for the agricultural and horticultural sectors (2021-2022, The Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture)

·       SFI Pilot: monitoring, evaluation and learning (2021-2025, Defra)

·       Farming resilience: civil society's role in supporting vulnerable rural communities through and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic (2021-2022, ESRC)

·       The Role of UK Livestock Auction Markets in Rural Communities (The Prince’s Countryside Fund, 2019-202

·       The well-being of agricultural communities in England and Wales (RABI 2020-21)

·       Loneliness, social isolation and mental health in farming communities: An analysis of social and cultural factors (ESRC 2021)

·       Food System Impacts of COVID-19 (ESRC 2020-21)

·       Collaboration and Incentive for Achieving environmental benefits at large spatial scales through Environmental Land Management (Defra 2020-21)

·       Sustainable Intensification Platform Project 2: Opportunities and risks for farming and the environment at landscape scales (Defra, 2014-2017)

·       Sustainable Intensification Platform Project 1: Integrated farm management for improved economic, environmental and social performance (Defra, 2014-2017)

  • Family Business Growth Programme (Defra, 2013-2014)
  • Monitoring the Brue Valley Living Landscape Landowner Advisory Service (Somerset Wildlife Trust, 2013)
  • Validation of fertiliser manual (RB209) recommendations for grasslands (Defra, 2012-2014)
  • Research to inform the farming help charities: agricultural trends in the SW and leaving farming (Farming Help Charities, 2012-13)
  • South West Agricultural Resource Management (Defra/SWRDA, 2012-2013)
  • The Impact of Social Purpose Organisations on skills and training in the Okehampton area (SW Forum/Big Lottery Fund, 2011-2013)
  • Making Land Available for Woodland Creation (Forestry Commission, 2011-2012)
  • A Review of Cornwall's Agri-food Industry (Cornwall Development Company, 2011)
  • Economic Impact Assessment of Bovine Tuberculosis in the South West (National Farmers Union, 2010)
  • Sustainable Rural Futures Research Programme (Devon County Council, 2009-2014)
  • Processes of Technical Change in British Agriculture: Innovation in the farming of South West England, 1935-1985 (ESRC, 2009-2013)
  • Griff Davies Legacy: Entry to and exit from farming: implications for the well-being of farm household members in the South West (2006-2014)
  • ESRC/RELU: Improving the success of agri-environment initiatives: the role of farmer learning and landscape context (with CEH, IGER & Reading, 2006-2011)
  • Food production, processing and distribution in Cornwall (Objective 1/Taste of the West, 2006)
  • Green Futures: Practical environmental enhancements in the South West's improved grasslands (with IGER, 2005-2006). Funded through the SW Regional Food and Farming Strategy
  • Social implications of changes in the structure of agricultural businesses (DEFRA, 2004-05)
  • Rural Stress Review (Rural Stress Information Network, 2003-2004)
  • The contribution of organic farming to the rural economy (DEFRA, 2003-05)
  • Environmental and economic implications of changes in the structure of agricultural business (DEFRA, 2001-02)
  • Family farming on the edge? Adaptability and change in farm households (Co Ag, 2001-02)

Research group links

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Projects

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Supervision

I am currently supervising the following PhD researchers:

Jo Furtado: Predicting future cultural and natural heritage scenarios on common land

Skylar Collins: Understanding risk, safety and mental health challenges in UK small-scale fisheries

Jill Lidgey: The place of the traditional market in Dorset: a contemporary study of Bridport and Dorchester

Aoife Maher: Overcoming barriers to increased horticultural production in existing agricultural enterprises: understanding the perspective of Devon’s growers – past, present and future

Hannah Mortimer: Do Not Feed the Animals? Ordering animal feeding from local to global

Successfully completed PhDs include:

·       Catherine Broomfield: Towards a social licence to farm: An Aristotelian approach to

farmers’ engagement with nonfarming people

  • Jen Clements: Farming, Labour and Landscape
  • Charlotte Chivers: Exploring farmers’ attitudes to on-farm control measures of water pollution
  • Beth Dooley: Policies to Build Resilience in UK agriculture.
  • Ginny Thomas: Thin end of the world / thin end of the wedge: Farmer attitudes to, and engagement with, rewilding projects in south western England
  • Polly Lord: The atypical employment law rights of agricultural workers in small-medium farms: what is reasonably practicable?
  • Caroline Nye: Agricultural Labour in the UK: Change and Challenge in the Transition to Sustainable Intensification. (Funded by the John Oldacre Foundation)
  • Georgina Crossman: The Organisational Landscape of the English Horse Industry: a Contrast with Sweden and the Netherlands.
  • Gordon Morris: People helping people - An assessment of the market towns and related initiatives and the extent to which they addressed rural poverty.
  • Hannah Chiswell: Rising to the Food Security Challenge.  An Investigation into the Impact of the Food Security Agenda on Farmers and their Successors in the South West of England. (Funded by the John Oldacre Foundation)

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Publications

Copyright Notice: Any articles made available for download are for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the copyright holder.

| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1993 | 1992 | 1990 | 1989 |

2023

2022

2021

2020

  • Lobley M. (2020) Editorial, International Journal of Agricultural Management, volume 9, DOI:10.5836/ijam/2020-09-1.

2019

2018

2017

  • Morris C, Jarrett S, Lobley M, Wheeler RM. (2017) Baseline Farm Survey – Final Report. Report for Defra project LM0302 Sustainable Intensification Research Platform Project 2: Opportunities and Risks for Farming and the Environment at Landscape Scales, Defra.

2016

2015

2014

2013

  • Lobley M, Saratsi E, Winter M, Bullock J. (2013) Training farmers in agri-environmental management: the case of Environmental Stewardship in lowland England, International Journal of Agricultural and Management, volume 3, no. 1, pages 12-20.
  • de Snoo GR, Herzon I, Staats H, Burton RJF, Schindler S, van Dijk J, Lokhorst AM, Bullock JM, Lobley M, Wrbka T. (2013) Toward effective nature conservation on farmland: Making farmers matter, Conservation Letters, volume 6, no. 1, pages 66-72, DOI:10.1111/j.1755-263X.2012.00296.x.
  • Brassley P, Harvey D, Lobley M, Winter M. (2013) Accounting for agriculture: The origins of the Farm Management Survey origins of the farm management survey, Agricultural History Review, volume 61, no. 1, pages 135-153.
  • Fish RD, Lobley M, Winter M. (2013) Sustainable intensification and ecosystem services: new directions in agricultural governance, Policy Sciences: an international journal devoted to the improvement of policy making.
  • Warren M, Lobley M, Winter M. (2013) Farmer attitudes to vaccination and culling of badgers in controlling bovine tuberculosis, Vet Rec, volume 173, no. 2, DOI:10.1136/vr.101601. [PDF]
  • Lobley M, Butler A, Winter M. (2013) Local Organic Food for Local People? Organic Marketing Strategies in England and Wales, Regional Studies, volume 47, no. 2, pages 216-228.
  • Fish RD, Lobley M, Winter DM. (2013) A license to produce? Farmer interpretations of the new food security agenda, Journal of Rural Studies, volume 29, DOI:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2012.02.002.

2012

  • Lobley M, Winter D, Winter H, Millard N, Butler A. (2012) Making land available for woodland creation.
  • Whitehead I, Lobley M, Baker JR. (2012) From Generation to Generation: Drawing the Threads Together, Keeping it in the family: International Perspectives on Succession and Retirement on Family Farms, Ashgate, 213-240.
  • Lobley M, Baker JR. (2012) Succession and Retirement in Family Farm Businesses, Keeping it in the family: International Perspectives on Succession and Retirement on Family Farms, Ashgate, 1-19.

2010

  • Lobley M, Baker J, Whitehead I. (2010) Farm succession and retirement: some international comparisons, Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development.
  • Lobley M, Butler A, Winter M. (2010) Producing and consuming organic food, Journal of The Royal Agricultural Society of England.
  • Lobley M. (2010) Succession in the family farm business, Farm Management.
  • Lobley M, Butler A. (2010) The impact of CAP reform on farmers’ plans for the future: some evidence from South West England, Food Policy, volume 35, no. 4, pages 341-348, DOI:10.1016/j.foodpol.2010.04.001.

2009

  • Winter M, Lobley M. (2009) Conclusions: The emerging contours of the new land debate, pages 319-330, DOI:10.4324/9781849774673.
  • Lobley M, Butler A, Courtney P, Ilbery B, Kirwan J, Maye D, Potter C, Winter M. (2009) Analysis of socio-economic aspects of local and national organic farming markets, CRPR.
  • Winter M, Lobley M. (2009) The emerging contours of the new land debate, What is Land For? The Food, Fuel and Climate Change Debate, Earthscan, 319-330.
  • Lobley M, Winter M. (2009) Introduction: Knowing the Land, What is Land For? The Food, Fuel and Climate Change Debate, Earthscan, 1-22.
  • Hopkins A, Lobley M. (2009) A Scientific Review of the Impact of UK Ruminant Livestock on Greenhouse Gas Emissions, CRPR, 60 pages.
  • Lobley M, Butler A, Winter M. (2009) Farm Incomes in Devon 2007/08, CRPR.
  • Lobley M, Winter M. (2009) “Born out of crisis”: assessing the legacy of the Exmoor moorland management agreements, Rural History, volume 20 (2), pages 229-247, DOI:10.1017/S0956793309990069.
  • Dunlop CA. (2009) Regulating Land Use Technologies: How Does Government Juggle the Risks?, What is Land For? The Food, Fuel and Climate Change Debate, Earthscan, 263-292. [PDF]
  • Lobley M, Butler A, Reed M. (2009) The contribution of organic farming to rural development: an exploration of the socio-economic linkages of organic and non-organic farms in England, Land Use Policy, volume 26, no. 3, pages 723-735, DOI:10.1016/j.landusepol.2008.09.007.
  • Saratsi E, Lobley M, Winter D. (2009) “Habitat is just another crop”: Training and advice for agri-environmental management, British Ornithologists' Union, Lowland Farmland Birds Conference, University Of Leicester, Leicester, Uk, 1st - 1st Apr 2009.
  • Winter M, Lobley M. (2009) What is Land For? The Food, Fuel and Climate Change Debate, Earthscan.

2008

  • Uchiyama T, Lobley M, Errington A, Yanagimura S. (2008) Dimensions of Intergenerational Farm Business Transfers in Canada, England, the USA and Japan, The Japanese Journal of Rural Economics, volume 10, no. 0, pages 33-48, DOI:10.18480/jjre.10.33.
  • Uchiyama T, Lobley M, Errington A, Yanagimura S. (2008) Dimensions of intergenerational farm business transfers in Canada, England, the USA and Japan, Japanese Journal of Rural Economics, volume 10, no. 10, pages 33-49.
  • Lobley M, Winter M. (2008) Is Devon's Agriculture fit for purpose in an era of climate change? A report on a stakeholder jury for Devon County Council, Devon County Council, CRPR.
  • Reed M, Butler A, Lobley M. (2008) Growing Sustainable Communities: Understanding the Social-Economic Footprints of Organic Family Farms, Creating Food Futures, Gower.
  • Lobley M. (2008) Towards a framework for a GHG emissions reduction strategy for rural land use and the land based industries in South West England, CRPR.

2005

  • Lobley MN, Brassley P. (2005) The Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union, The Countryside Notebook, Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Lobley M. (2005) The Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union, The Countryside Notebook, Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Lobley M. (2005) Exploring the dark side: Stress in rural Britain, Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, volume 166.
  • Winter DM, Lobley M. (2005) An introduction to contemporary rural economies, The Countryside Notebook, Blackwell, 15-20.
  • Reed, M., Butler, A.. (2005) The Impact of Organic Farming on the Rural Economy in England, DEFRA.
  • Potter, C., Whitehead, I., Butler, A.. (2005) The Wider Social Impacts of Changes in the Structure of Agricultural Businesses.

2004

2003

  • Winter DM, Lobley M, Bulter A, Barr A, Turner M, Fogerty M. (2003) The State of Agriculture in Devon, Devon County Council, CRR.

2002

  • Winter DM, Reed M, Lobley M, Chndler J. (2002) Family Farmers on the Edge: Adaptability and Change in Farm Households, Countryside Agency, University of Plymouth and University of Exeter, 120 pages.
  • Winter DM, Turner M, Barr D, Fogerty M, Errington A, Lobley M, Reed M. (2002) Farm Diversification Activities: Benchmarking Study, DEFRA, CRR.

2001

  • Winter DM, Mills J, Lobley M, Winter H. (2001) Knowledge for Sustainable Agriculture,, WWF.

2000

1998

1997

1996

1993

1992

1990

  • Potter C, Lobley M. (1990) Adapting to Europe: conservation groups and the European Community, ECOS: a Review of Conservation, volume 11, no. 3, pages 3-9.

1989

  • Lobley M. (1989) A role for ESAs?, ECOS: a Review of Conservation, volume 10, no. 2, pages 27-29.

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External impact and engagement

I regularly work with a range of businesses and non-academic partners in the funding and delivery of research and am committed to research that makes a difference in the world outside of academia. I am the co-author of two REF impact case studies and am Director of Business Engagement and Innovation in  the Department of Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy, and Anthropology. I have been a member of Defra advisory panels, board member of rural and environmental charities and my work on small family farms (funded by the Prince’s Countryside Fund) influenced the development of the Prince’s Farm Resilience Programme and subsequently Defra’s Future Farming Resilience programme. I am a member of the Council of The Institute of Agricultural Management.

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Teaching

Modules taught

  • SOCM045 - Food and Sustainability: Economy, Society and Environment

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Biography

Matt Lobley BA Hons (CNAA), PG cert (Plym), MSc (Lond) PhD (Lond) is Professor of Rural Resource Management and Co-Director of the Centre for Rural Policy Research at the University of Exeter.  He was appointed in 2002.

Between 1998 and 2002 he was Senior Lecturer in Countryside Management at the University of Plymouth (Seale-Hayne campus), and between 1989 and 1998 Research Assistant/Research Fellow at Wye College, University of London.

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