Farm management and vegetation plot data from paired organic and conventional farms in England, 2000-2004
type: Dataset
citation: Norton, L.R., Scott, R.J., Stuart, R.C., Firbank, L.G., Dodd, B.A., Wright, K.L., Wood, C.M. (2025). Farm management and vegetation plot data from paired organic and conventional farms in England, 2000-2004. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre. (Dataset). https://doi.org/10.5285/aa86a268-559c-4f54-8e52-6292ad7901f4
description: The UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology gathered a range of ecological data between 2000 and 2004. The data include vegetation, farm management and habitat information, collected from 89 pairs of organic and non-organic fields on 161 farms containing arable crops distributed throughout England. Within these farms, landscape context and farm management practices centred on 30 pairs of target spring cereal fields (in 2000) and 59 pairs of target winter wheat fields (over two seasons 2002-2004). Data were derived at different scales ranging from field to landscape scale using a range of methods. The vegetation data consists of plant records from within target fields which were sampled in 3 years (2000, 2002, 2003) with each field sampled in one of the years. Three plot types were used. (i) Crop margin plots which recorded species presence in plots extending 1 m from the ploughed edge and 100 m along the field edge. (ii) Field boundary plots which recorded presence and abundance (% cover) of species in plots extending 1 m from the centre of the uncultivated field boundary and 10 m parallel to the boundary. Berries were counted in winter from a sub-set of sites. (iii) Percent cover of within-crop plants was recorded in 0.5×0.5 m quadrats placed at distances of 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32 m from the ploughed margin on 12 transects per field. Farm management data were collected via land manager questionnaires. Farmers were asked 40 questions concerning management of the target field and the whole farm. Habitat data were summarised at the farm level from the satellite-derived UKCEH Land Cover Map 2000. Invertebrates and birds were also sampled but do not form part of this data set. The study was based on a total of 88 non-organic and 73 organic farms over three cropping seasons between 2000 and 2004. This dataset was created to investigate the benefits of organic farming for biodiversity as part of a DEFRA funded study.
is accessible for free: true
date created: 2025-10-23
date published: 2025-10-24
keywords: Agriculture
keywords: Biodiversity
keywords: Environmental survey
keywords: organic farming
creator: Norton, L.R.
creator: Scott, R.J.
creator: Stuart, R.C.
creator: Firbank, L.G.
creator: Dodd, B.A.
creator: Wright, K.L.
creator: Wood, C.M.
temporal coverage: 2000-01-01/2004-12-31
spatial coverage: bbox0
funding: fund0
license: Open Government Licence v3
distribution: distribution0
publisher: NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
provider: NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
included in data catalog: Environmental Information Data Centre

Agriculture
type: DefinedTerm

Biodiversity
type: DefinedTerm

Environmental survey
type: DefinedTerm

organic farming
type: DefinedTerm
in defined term set: https://www.eionet.europa.eu/gemet/

Environmental Information Data Centre
type: DataCatalog
alternate name: EIDC

NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
type: Organization

Open Government Licence v3
type: CreativeWork
alternate name: OGL-UK-3.0

geoshape0
type: GeoShape
box: -6.452 49.864, 1.768 55.812

Norton, L.R.
type: Person
family name: Norton
given name: L.R.
affiliation: UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Scott, R.J.
type: Person
family name: Scott
given name: R.J.
affiliation: UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Stuart, R.C.
type: Person
family name: Stuart
given name: R.C.
affiliation: UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Firbank, L.G.
type: Person
family name: Firbank
given name: L.G.
affiliation: UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Dodd, B.A.
type: Person
family name: Dodd
given name: B.A.
affiliation: UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Wright, K.L.
type: Person
family name: Wright
given name: K.L.
affiliation: UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Wood, C.M.
type: Person
family name: Wood
given name: C.M.
affiliation: UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
type: Organization

distribution0
type: DataDownload
encoding format: application/zip

UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
type: Organization