Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
year. Another study by Olivia Hartridge and David Pearce has also put
the annual costs of modern agriculture in excess of UK£1 billion. 12 These
are costs imposed on the rest of society and are, effectively, a hidden
subsidy to the polluters. 13 The annual costs arise from damage to the
atmosphere (UK£316 million), to water (UK£231 million), to bio-
diversity and landscapes (UK£126 million), to soils (UK£96 million),
and to human health (UK£777 million). Using a similar framework of
analysis, the external costs in the US amount to nearly UK£13 billion per
year. 14
How do all of these costs arise? Pesticides, nitrogen and phosphorus
nutrients, soil, farm wastes and micro-organisms escape from farms to
pollute ground and surface water. Costs are incurred by water delivery
companies, and then passed on to their customers in order to remove these
contaminants, to pay for restoring watercourses following pollution
incidents and eutrophication , and to remove soil from water. Using UK water
companies' returns for both capital and operating expenditure, we
estimated annual external costs to be UK£125 million for the removal
of pesticides below legal standards, UK£16 million for nitrates, UK£69
million for soil, and UK£23 million for Cryptosporidium . 15 These costs
would be much greater if the policy goal were complete removal of all
contamination.
Agriculture also contributes to atmospheric pollution through the
emissions of four gases: methane from livestock, nitrous oxide from
fertilizers, ammonia from livestock wastes and some fertilizers, and carbon
dioxide from energy and fossil-fuel consumption and the loss of soil
carbon. These, in turn, contribute to atmospheric warming (methane,
nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide), ozone loss in the stratosphere (nitrous
oxide), acidification of soils and water (ammonia) and eutrophication
(ammonia). The annual cost for these gases is some UK£444 million. 16
A healthy soil is vital for agriculture; but modern farming has accelerated
erosion, primarily through the cultivation of winter cereals, the conversion
of pasture to arable, the removal of field boundaries and hedgerows, and
overstocking of livestock on grasslands. Off-site costs arise when soil
washed or blown away from fields blocks ditches and roads, damages
property, induces traffic accidents, increases the risk of floods, and
pollutes water through sediments and associated nitrates, phosphates and
pesticides. These costs amount to UK£14 million per year. Carbon in
organic matter in soils is also rapidly lost when pastures are ploughed or
when agricultural land is intensively cultivated, and adds another UK£82
million to the annual external costs.
Modern farming has had a severe impact on wildlife in the UK. More
than nine-tenths of wildflower-rich meadows have been lost since the
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