Farmers and the environment - the blame game!

Recent coverage of the impact of Inheritance Tax changes have generated considerable levels of comment about farmers. Leaving aside the tax question there have been various posts about the negative effect of farming on the environment.

An open area of land (Crantock)

The changes in the wildlife numbers have been well documented and present an alarming story of decline and habitat degradation. [See Appendix 1 for more details]. But who is responsible for this situation?

The actors

The most obvious actors are farmers themselves who have everyday control over what happens on the land. Yet they operate within a framework of other actors. We could see this as metagovernance in action.

We can identify other actors involved in determining what happens on farms and how farmers treat or mistreat the environment. Government policy plays a crucial role here both in determining how much farmers are paid and in encouraging certain activities. In terms of prices paid, in the past prices were often set by the state. Falling in real terms they would encourage farmers to be more 'productive'. Now the emphasis is on the market which is essentially a buyers market with prices determined by the large supermarkets. Lower returns act to force farmers to be more 'efficient', with negative effects on wildlife. Of course we cannot ignore the desire of consumers to have cheap and cheaper food. If people want cheap food, which has been a cornerstone of agricultural policy since the C19th, then there is a price to pay - both in farmers earnings and the environment.

Governments have also encouraged and exhorted farmers to adopt certain practices including the use of pesticides and herbicides, more intensive use of land and the removal of hedges etc. Farmers who failed to implement these measures were regarded as backward, an impediment to modernisation. Some farmers rejected this 'production at all costs' approach, instead farming with the environment in mind. This was perhaps understandably, a minority view.

We can also attribute blame to those producing the various chemicals used on farms. However we have to remember that following the Second world war, there was a belief in scientific progress and the ability to control and where possible eliminate pests and diseases and to increase production.

Conclusion

Blaming a particular group is easy but usually unwise. Farmers operate within a structure, a belief system reflecting the wider societies objectives and prejudices.

To reverse the impact of farming on the environment requires appropriate policies -

A fairer pricing system (to reduce pressure to intensify production);

Support for more sustainable farming practices;

Payments for the non-production element of farming;

Legislation to control land use and the methods used to produce food.

Some measures have been introduced such as the Sustainable Farming Initiative but to progress a more comprehensive range of policies is essential.

Appendix 1

"The second half of the twentieth century has seen huge increases in crop and livestock production in

England through intensification of farming methods and specialisation of farming businesses, in response to

economic pressures and government policies. For instance, compared with the 1970s, yields of wheat per hectare have doubled and almost twice as much milk is produced per dairy cow. This has been achieved through increased use of pesticides and artificial fertilisers, ploughing and re-seeding of old grassland, more

mechanisation and land drainage, introduction of high-yielding crop varieties and a switch from springsown

crops to autumn-sown crops.

Unfortunately, increases in food production have been at the expense of farmland wildlife. Habitats have been lost or reduced to small fragments and their capacity to support wild plants and animals has been degraded. Widespread ‘grubbing-up’ of orchards has occurred; for instance 95% of Wiltshire’s traditional orchards have been lost since 1945. Specialised arable farms no longer need hedgerows as stock-proof boundaries. These barriers hinder economic and

effective use of large combine harvesters and other machines. Over 20% of hedgerows were lost between 1984 and 1990 alone. Ponds were no longer needed for watering livestock and were filled in. Pond numbers in England have fallen by a third since the Second World War and the average

density has decreased from 6 ponds to 1.7 ponds per kilometre square.

Populations of farmland birds have declined dramatically. Between the 1970s and the late 1990s the numbers

of skylarks, grey partridges, corn buntings and tree sparrows in England fell by more than three-quarters.

A combination of causes has been responsible, including a 75% reduction in the area of spring-sown crops

and their winter stubbles. These changes reduced winter feeding grounds and limited the availability of bare ground in spring for nesting lapwings and skylarks. The loss of mixed arable and livestock farms has also

reduced the habitat variety favoured by birds like the lapwing. The quality of other habitats has been

degraded. Most hedgerows are now cut every year, reducing the quantity of berries produced and many hedges are thin shadows of once-vigorous boundaries. Particularly scarce are large, infrequently-trimmed

hedgerows, with their abundant harvest of nuts and berries for dormice and other animals.

Old grasslands that have remained ‘unimproved’ by artificial fertilisers, herbicides, drainage and re-seeding

have become very rare. By the mid-1980s, 97% had been lost. Improved grasslands harbour few wild plants

and animals, for example, they provide little nectar and pollen for bumblebees and butterflies. Loss of

rough grassland has reduced available habitats for hunting barn owls, which feed on the small mammals that live in tussocky grassland.

Ground-nesting birds like lapwing and snipe have suffered from drying-out of lowland wet grasslands

and increased livestock numbers. More livestock per field multiplies the risk of nest destruction, as does

the frequent cutting of silage. Since the early 1980s, the numbers of breeding lapwing on lowland wet

grassland have declined by 38% and snipe numbers have decreased by 61%. Corncrakes, which nest in hay

meadows, had become almost extinct in England by the 1990s. Water quality of ponds, ditches and other freshwaters has been damaged by run-off of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilisers from fields. Run-off of slurry and manure from intensive livestock areas and silt from easily eroded soils in arable landscapes have

added to water quality problems. Over-enrichment with these nutrients causes murky blooms of algae and

loss of larger water plants like water-crowfoot. Silt washed into rivers from surrounding fields clogs

the river gravels that are prime fish spawning grounds."

[English Nature, (2004), Farmland wildlife - Past, present and future].