Changes in demand for food.

Organic Food:

Organic food production in the UK is regulated by several bodies including the soil association.

Currently in the EU organic producers are required to have certification in order to market their food as organic.

Supporters claim that organic farms have a smaller environmental impact than conventional farms, these are the benefits:

• Organic farms do not release synthetic pesticides into the environment.
• Organic farms are better at sustaining diverse ecosystems- populations of plants and insects, as well as animals.
• When calculated per unit area or per unit yield- organic farms use less energy and produce less waste.
• Farmers and their families are not as exposed to pesticides which can also cause stomach upsets and even cancer.

Drawbacks of organic farming:

• Organic food is more expensive because of the high production costs- cause mainly by the intensive use of labour.
• The appearance of organic food can be less uniform.
• There is also uncertainty of whether organic farming could ever be developed on a big enough scale to feed more than just a small proportion of the population.

Food Miles/Seasonal Food:

Food miles are a way of calculating how far food travels to reach its consumers.The quantity of food miles on our roads has doubled since 1974. In the UK, a typical basket of 26 imported organic foods may have travelled the distance of six times around the equator. The amount of food miles is increasing for each family in the UK.The only advantage to food miles is that the consumer has a choice of food that cannot be produced locally, this includes raw ingredients such as spices, herbs, fruit and processed foods from specific regional recipes.

Problems with increasing food miles:

•         Obvious environmental impact of transportation
•         Reduced freshness of produce.
•         Potential to pollute eco-systems with non-native species (insects in fruit etc.)
•         Less control over production to local standards.

Case Study-

• Despite having a big production of potatoes in the UK, 350,000 tonnes of potatoes are imported per year.
• In the UK 89% of fruit is imported.
• An example of a seasonal food is Strawberry's. A seasonal food is food that isn’t naturally available throughout the whole year – they have seasons of growth as they needs the right conditions.
• Apples, onions, carrots and Green beans are also seasonal. So how do we get them in supermarkets all year round? Imports. Apples are imported 4700 miles from USA, Onions are imported 12,000 miles from Australia and New Zealand, Carrots are imported 5,100 miles from South Africa and Green beans are imported 3,600 miles from Kenya. 

Sustainable Food.

Sustainable Food:

Sustainable agriculture refers to the ability of a farmer to produce food indefinitely without causing irreversible damage to the local ecosystem. Two key issues in promoting sustainability are:

• ·        Biophysical- The long-term effects of various practises on the soil and other aspects  of the environment.
• ·        Socioeconomic- The long-term ability of farmers to obtain inputs and manage        resources such as labour.

EU managing food supplies.

The Common Agricultural Policy:

The aims of the policy were:

•   To raise food production levels across the European Union.
•   To ensure a fair standard of living for farmers.
•   To stabilise agricultural markets within and between member states.

Their methods included:

• Import Tariffs- These are applied to specific goods imported into the EU. These are set at a level to raise world market prices up to the EU target prices.
• Quotas- Limits the amount of non-EU food that could be imported. These protect the farmers of member states from cheap foreign competition.
• Internal intervention prices- This means that if the global market price falls below the guaranteed price the EU would buy up any surplus produce from its farms. This protects farmers’ incomes. 
• Direct Subsides- These are paid to farmers for growing certain desired crops. This maintains a good level of home grown suppliers. Usually paid based on how much and is used to grow certain crops.

Set-Aside-

‘Set-aside’ is a scheme designed to reduce the production of arable crops. It was introduced in 1988. Farmers in the scheme agree to set-aside (stop using) a percentage (originally at least 20%) of the land they have been using for growing agricultural crops. In return they receive annual compensation payments, a farmer would receive £200 per hectare.  

Land set-aside has to be used for one of the following options, or any combination of them 

• Permanent fallow or rotational fallow. Permanent fallow commits the farmer to setting aside the same parcel(s) of land for the full period of the agreement. Rotational fallow enables the farmer to set aside different parcels of land each year as part of the normal arable rotation. There are detailed rules for the management of the fallow land to ensure that it is kept in good agricultural condition.
• Woodland. Forestry Commission approval is normally required. Until that approval is obtained, the land may be maintained as fallow.
• Approved non-agricultural use. These uses include tourist facilities, caravan and camping sites, car parks, certain sport facilities, riding schools, livery stables and game and nature reserves. All normal planning laws apply. Until planning permission is obtained, the land has to be maintained and managed as fallow.

If the rules are broken by either the original farmer or a successor in title, penalties may be imposed, including the repayment of amounts already received. 

Environmental Stewardship.

Environmental Stewardship:

This refers to the responsibility UK farmers have towards the environment. Environmental

Stewardship is an agri-environment scheme that provides funding to farmers and other land

Managers in England who deliver effective environmental management on their land.

The primary objectives of Environmental Stewardship are to:

•        Conserve wildlife (biodiversity)
• ·         Maintain and enhance landscape quality and character
• ·         Protect the historic environment and natural resources
• ·         Promote public access and understanding of the countryside
• ·         Protect natural resources.

There two are different levels of environmental stewardship:

• Entry Level Stewardship is a ‘whole farm’ scheme open to all farmers and land managers who farm their land conventionally. 
• Higher Level Stewardship will be combined with entry level to deliver significant environmental benefits in high priority situations and areas.

Management options available for each level are:

	Entry level	Higher level
Arable land	·         over-wintered stubble, beetle banks	·         flower-rich grass margins ·         fallow plots for ground-nesting birds such as lapwings ·         unharvested conservation headlands to provide winter food for birds
Grassland		·         maintenance and restoration of species-rich, semi-natural grassland ·         restoration of wet grassland for breeding waders and wildfowl
Boundary features	·         management of hedgerows, stone walls and ditches	·         maintenance of hedgerows of very high environmental value
Buffer strips	2.4 or 6 m buffer strips on ·         cultivated land/rotational land ·         intensive grassland/organic grassland
Encouraging a range of crop types	·         under sown spring cereals ·         wild bird seed mix/pollen and nectar seed mix in grassland areas
Moorland and upland rough grazing	·         moorland and rough grazing, management of rush pastures	·         restoration of moorland
Lowland grassland and heath	·         taking field corners out of management ·         permanent grassland with low or very low inputs	·         restoration and maintenance of heathland
Management Plans	·         soil management plan ·         nutrient management plan ·         manure management plan ·         crop protection management plan (entry level only)
Protection of soils	·         management of high erosion risk cultivated land ·         management of maize crops to reduce soil erosion	·         grass areas within fields to prevent erosion or run-off ·         seasonal livestock removal to prevent erosion or run-off
Trees and woodland	·         protection of in-field trees – arable/grassland or rotational grassland ·         management of woodland edges	·         restoration of woodland ·         retention of ancient trees in arable fields ·         restoration of traditional orchards
Protection of historic features	·         taking archaeological sites out of arable production	·         restoration of traditional water meadows ·         maintaining high water levels to protect archaeology
Inter-tidal and coastal		·         maintenance of sand dune systems ·         restoration of coastal saltmarsh
Permissive access		·         permissive footpaths ·         permissive bridleways ·         upgrades of ‘open access’ land ·         educational access
Wetland		·         maintenance of ponds of high wildlife value ·         maintenance of reedbeds

(Grid is from the internet not my original work)

Types of farming.

Farming Types:

Intensive - A high amount of INPUTS are put into these systems so that outputs are maximised.  In Poorer nations this has traditionally been Labour Intensive, where huge amounts of man power are put into the system to maximise output. In richer nations this tends to be Capital Intensive, where huge amounts of money for resources and technology are put into the systems to maximise outputs.

Extensive - This farming uses large areas of land with low inputs and outputs per unit area of land.

Commercial - This type of farming is where produce is reared or grown for sale.  This ranges from small family farms to huge TNC backed farming corporations.

Subsistence - This is where the food grown is largely for the consumption by the people growing it, with little or no surplus for sale

Arable - the growth of crops such as Barley, Wheat, Rice, cotton.

Livestock - The rearing of animals for their milk, eggs, skins, meat etc.

Mixed - a combination of growing crops and keeping animals.