Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
supporting agro-ecological systems that take advantage of and conserve
biodiversity at both field and landscape scale [8].
It has been shown that the food industry in the UK is responsible for
14% of national energy consumption and for 25% of heavy goods vehicle
kilometers [9]. The structural development of the food supply system over
the past 60 years means that most goods are now distributed through re-
gional distribution centers before being transported to increasingly cen-
tralized and concentrated out-of-town supermarkets. This also means that
more shopping trips are done by private cars which make up approximate-
ly half of the total food vehicle kilometers [10]. In 2002, 9% of UK's total
consumption of petroleum products was used for transportation of food
[10]. This clearly shows that if the environmental impacts of the food sup-
ply system are to be signifi cantly reduced, then it is necessary to view the
production and distribution of food together. Direct marketing and local
selling of products offers a way for farms to by-pass the energy intensive
mass distribution system. Such distribution systems are particularly ap-
propriate for vegetables, which have a relative short lifetime and are most
attractive to consumers when they are fresh. On the other hand, depending
on the distance travelled and the mode of transport, the local system may
be more energy consuming than the mass distribution system [11,12].
The development in food supply systems has also resulted in a push
towards producers being more specialized and production being in larger,
uniform units [10]. These changes tend to imply reductions in crop di-
versity at the farm level, which in the long run may cause problems for
society. For example, the biodiversity loss associated with these systems
has been shown to result in decreased productivity and stability of eco-
systems due to loss of ecosystem services [13]. Specifi cally, biodiversity
at the farm level has been shown often to have many ecological benefi ts
(ecosystem services) like supporting pollination, pest and disease control.
Therefore, it has been suggested that it is time for a paradigm shift in agri-
culture by embracing complexity through diversity at all levels, including
soil, crops, and consumers [14]. However, high levels of crop diversity
may be rather diffi cult to combine with the supermarket mass distribution
system, which at present sell 85% of food in the UK [10]. On the contrary,
local based direct marketing has been identifi ed as a driving force for in-
creasing on-farm biodiversity [15].
