Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
grazing animals to keep the area around them clear, I suspect that meat-loving members of
the public who currently object to their installation might, in a zero carbon Britain, come to
see them as the lesser of two evils.
Conclusion
The main conclusion to be drawn from this exercise is that organic livestock-based agri-
culture, practised by orthodox methods and without supplementary measures, has the most
difficulty sustaining the full UK population on the land available, while other management
systems can do so with a more or less comfortable margin.
However, organic livestock agriculture becomes more efficient and sustainable when it
is carried out in conjunction with other traditional and permacultural management prac-
tices which are integral to a natural fertility cycle. These include: feeding livestock upon
food wastes and residues; returning human sewage to productive land; dispersal of animals
on mixed farms and smallholdings rather than concentration in large farms; local slaughter
and food distribution; managing animals to ensure optimum recuperation of manure; and
selecting and managing livestock, especially dairy cows, to be nitrogen conveyors rather
than nitrogen stealers.
These measures demand more human labour, and more even dispersal of both livestock
and humans around the country than the chemical or vegan options. Effective pursuit of
livestock-based organic agriculture of this kind requires a localized economy, and some
degree of agrarian resettlement. Other management systems based on synthetic fertilizers
or vegan principles lend themselves more easily to the levels of urbanization currently fa-
voured by the dominant (and mostly urban) policy makers.
1
Mellanby, K (1975),
Can Britain Feed Itself?
, Merlin Press.
2
This chapter is an edited version of an article first published in
The Land
4, in 2008. Some material has been cut, to
avoid repetition in this topic; and the calculations for horse power have been amended. Figures for 1975 are from Mel-
lanby, K (1975),
ibid.
Figures for 2007 are derived, whenever possible, from: Nix, J (2007),
Farm Management Pock-
etbook
, Imperial College London, Wye Campus, The Anderson Centre; Lampkin, N, Measures, M and Padel, S (2007),
Organic Farm Management Handbook
, Organic Farming Research Unit, University of Wales Aberystwyth and Elm Farm
Research Centre; Office for National Statistics (2006),
Annual Abstract of Statistics
, Chapter 21; DEFRA (2005),
Agri-
culture in the UK
, Chapter 5, DEFRA. Where crop yield figures are not available in these publications I have deduced
them from information available on the internet, using at least two sources for each item.
The nitrogen cycle is the most complicated aspect to assess, and the figures I have used are broad-brush. For ma-
nure use I have used a number of sources, in particular Lampkin, N (1990),
Organic Farming
, Farming Press; ASAE
(2003),
Manure Production and Characteristics,
American Society of Engineers; and Chorley, G (1981), 'The Agricul-
tural Revolution in N Europe, 1750-1880: Nitrogen, Legumes, and Crop Productivity',
Economic History Review
. The
6:4 ley:crop rotation is also taken from Lampkin (1990); a 5:2 or 7:3 rotation might be easier to achieve and this would
mean that the organic livestock option would require more land for green manure. The figure for human sewage repres-
