Crop Production in the East of Scotland - SASA

Inputs and Sustainabilityagriculture, they do not necessarily indicatethe survival of rural (human) communitiesand institutions, and landscape quality.However, no country is an “island”, andpolicies for Scotland must be set in a worldcontext. Taking a fully-global perspective(rather than simply considering worldprices), and taking account of thepopulation/food equation, increases in theextent and intensity of food production areboth essential and intrinsicallyunsustainable: necessary on ethicalgrounds, but ultimately causing irreversibleplanetary changes. This is the basis of theconcerns over genetically-modified (GM)crops and food expressed by Sir RobertMay, the UK government chief scientist(May, 1999): at present not all of thepotentially-cultivable land in the world isused, and over 30% of the food produced islost to pathogens and spoilage (Evans,1996). Cultivation of new land, increasedyield, and reduced losses (e.g. by the use ofGM technology) are all about reducing theshare of solar radiation captured byphotosynthesis which is consumed first byspecies other than man – be they rats,rabbits, locusts, fungi or bacteria, - orpandas, chimpanzees, songbirds ortermites. Thus, progressive increases in theextent and intensity of agriculturalproduction will inevitably cause reductionsin biodiversity. Taking an example close tohome, the recent sharp decline in farmlandbirds in the UK has been attributed to theploughing-in of cereal stubble in theautumn, thereby placing an important foodresource out of reach of a range of wildspecies.The consequences of changes toagriculture on the environment are rarelysimple and concern has been expressedthat moves towards extensification andorganic farming may not always provide theenvironmental benefits that are commonlypredicted (Kirchmann and Thorvaldsson,2000). It is also increasingly recognisedthat actions taken to achieve oneenvironmental goal may make anothermore difficult to achieve. For example,manure and slurry spreading contribute tothe Europe-wide problem of ammoniaemissions and the consequent increase innitrogen deposition on the land surface.Research is needed to identify theconsequences of changes in farmingoperations in different agro-ecologicalzones.Arguments over intensification of foodsupply and biodiversity, of course, ignorethe question of whether there are sufficientresources of oil, phosphorus, traceelements and water to go round; orwhether the planet can absorb the load ofpollution generated by intensifiedagriculture. There are other issues, such asthe extent to which food should beprocessed through livestock. Nevertheless,if a population of 9 billion is to be fed (USCensus Bureau projection for 2050) theworld will be a very different place.Recent Sources:Agriculture and Technology Review, TheEconomist, 25 March, 2000;Briefing Ecology and Economics, Nature395, 426-434, 1998;Food Production, Population Growth, andthe Environment, Science 281, 1291-1292;The Greening of the Green Revolution,Nature 396, 211-212, 1998;Crop Scientists Seek a New RevolutionScience 283, 311-316;Feeding the World in the 21st CenturyNature 412, C55-C58, 1999;45