Reality Cheques - Agri-culture: Reconnecting People, Land and Nature - page 76

agriculture is on the road to sustainability. There are encouraging signs that the agricultural
reform has already began to have positive effects on nature and the environment.'
Farmers must meet several minimum conditions in order to receive
payments for integrated production, the so-called 'ecological standard' of
performance. They must provide evidence that nutrient use matches crop
demands, with livestock farmers having to sell surplus manures or reduce
livestock numbers. Soils must be protected from erosion, and erosive
crops, such as maize, can only be cultivated if alternated in rotation with
meadows and green manures. At least 7 per cent of the farm must be
allocated for species diversity protection through so-called 'ecological
compensation areas', such as unfertilized meadows, hedgerows and
orchards. Finally, pesticide use is restricted. A vital element of the policy
process is that responsibility to set, administer and monitor is devolved
to cantons, farmers' unions and farm advisors, local bodies and non-
governmental organizations. By the end of the 1990s, 85 per cent of
farmland complied with the basic ecological standard, which allows
farmers to receive public subsidies. Some 5000 farms are now organic, and
all farmers are soon expected to meet the ecological standard. Pesticide
applications have fallen by one third in a decade, phosphate use is down
by 60 per cent and nitrogen use by half. Semi-natural habitats have
expanded during the decade, from 1 to 6 per cent in the plains, and from
7 to 23 per cent in the mountains.
There is much to learn from the Swiss and Cuban experiences, as these
remain the only two countries at the turn of the century who put
sustainable agriculture at the centre of their national policy. It is also true
that Switzerland is a wealthy country and could afford to pay farmers for
extra services. Cuba had no choice - it could not afford to do anything
else. While it is difficult to draw general conclusions from these two cases,
they highlight important questions. As American farmer and poet Wendell
Berry pointed out: 'I cannot see why a healthful, dependable, ecologically sound farm-
and farmer-conserving agricultural economy is not a primary goal of this country.' Is there
the political will in the remaining 200 or so countries for this kind of
agriculture? The options are available, and the net benefits would be
substantial. To date, the words have been easy, but the practice much more
difficult.
Concluding Comments
In this chapter, I have adopted a fairly narrow economic perspective in
order to set out some of the real costs of modern agricultural and food