Reality Cheques - Agri-culture: Reconnecting People, Land and Nature - page 59

1940s, together with one half of heathland, lowland fens , and valley and
basin mires, and one third to one half of ancient lowland woods and
hedgerows. Species diversity is also declining in the farmed habitat itself.
Increased use of drainage and fertilizers has led to grass monocultures
replacing flower-rich meadows; overgrazing of uplands has reduced species
diversity; and herbicides have cut diversity in arable fields. Hedgerows were
removed at a rate of 18,000 kilometres a year between the 1980s and
1990s. Farmland birds have particularly suffered, with the populations
of nine species falling by more than one half in the 25 years to 1995. 17
The costs of restoring species and habitats under biodiversity action plans
were used as a proxy for the costs of wildlife and habitat losses; together
with the costs of replacing hedgerows, stonewalls and bee colonies, this
brings the annual costs to UK£126 million.
Pesticides can affect workers who are engaged in their manufacture,
transport and disposal, operators who apply them in the field, and the
general public. But there is still great uncertainty because of differing risks
per product, poor understanding of chronic effects (such as in cancer
causation), weak monitoring systems, and misdiagnoses by doctors. 18 For
these reasons, it is very difficult to say exactly how many people are affected
by pesticides each year. According to voluntary reporting to government,
100-200 incidents occur each year in the UK. 19 However, a recent
government survey of 2000 pesticide users found that 5 per cent reported
at least one symptom in the past year about which they had consulted a
doctor, and a further 10 per cent had been affected, mostly by headaches,
but had not consulted a doctor, incurring annual costs of about UK£1
million. Chronic health hazards associated with pesticides are even more
difficult to assess. Pesticides are ingested via food and water, and these
represent some risk to the public. With current scientific knowledge, it
is impossible to state categorically whether or not certain pesticides play
a role in cancer causation. Other serious health problems arising from
agriculture are food-borne illnesses, antibiotic resistance and BSE-CJD. 20
These external costs of UK agriculture are alarming. They should call
into question what we mean by efficiency. Farming receives UK£3 billion
of public subsidies each year, yet causes another UK£1.5 billion of costs
elsewhere in the economy. If we had no alternatives, then we would have
to accept these costs. But in every case, there are choices. Pesticides do not
have to get into watercourses. Indeed, they do not need to be used at all
in many farm systems. The pesticide market in the UK is UK£500 million;
yet, we pay UK£120 million just to clean them out of drinking water. We
do not need farming that damages biodiversity and landscapes; we do not
need intensive livestock production that encourages infections and overuse
of antibiotics. Not all costs, though, are subject to immediate elimination