Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Population 60.6 million. Total agriculture and forestry land 22.205 million ha.
• One hectare of arable supplies 8 people
In terms of land-take, the lower yielding cows produce food almost as efficiently as the
high yielding cows. The ratio of hectares of land to calories of beef and milk from the corn-
fed cows in Table E is 6,983:480 or 14.5:1 whereas from the grass-fed cows in Table F it is
6,330:416 - or 15.2:1. In other words, a 63 per cent increase in milk yield results in a mere
five per cent increase in land productivity.
But there is another big difference between the two. The grass-fed cattle in Table F
provide over 2.8 million hectares of ley that can be used in rotation to help fertilize over a
million hectares of crops - whereas in Table E the 1.9 million hectares of ley that the corn
fed cattle bring with them isn't enough to fertilize the million hectares of grain they eat.
The low yielding cows are nitrogen providers whereas the high yielding cows are nitrogen
takers.
There is one other matter of interest. Since 2004, the net organic yield for wheat has risen
from 3.8 tonnes a hectare, to 4.3 tonnes in 2007 and 4.8 tonnes in 2009; but the milk yield
for organic cows dropped, from 6,000 litres to 5,800 litres in 2007, when grain prices were
high, and has since risen again.
3
A Permaculture Approach
My main purpose in Tables F and G is to go another step further and see whether the
UK could become more self reliant, not only in food, fodder and fertility, but also in fibre
and fuel. Our environmental footprint currently stretches across untold ghost acres around
the world; if suddenly we had to shoehorn it into the 22 million hectares of non-urban land
we have in this country, how would we cope? Could this be done organically, whilst keep-
ing a reasonable amount of meat in our diet for those who wanted it, and ensuring that a
reasonable proportion of the country is reserved for wildlife?
Tables F and G reflect a more permacultural approach, by which I mean permaculture
on the macro-scale, involving increased integration of lifestyle with natural and renewable
