Environmental Improvements for Scottish Intensive Farming

The Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), which has the task of securing conservation and enhancing the natural heritage of Scotland, is developing a number of initiatives to explore approaches to environmentally sustainable development in the countryside. A part of this is the TIBRE project—Targeted Inputs for a Better Rural Environment, which aims to make intensive farming more environmentally sustainable by applying modern technology. Given the experience of farmers over the past 20-30 years, it is difficult to convince them that intensive farming systems are agriculturally unsustainable, according to SNH.

Attempts to adopt less intensive farming have involved “turning the clock back”, says Professor Joyce Tait of SNH. TIBRE will allow us to “turn the clock forward faster by using new chemical, biological, engineering and information technology." It is clear that many intensive arable farms on the East coast of Scotland would not consider converting to organic poduction. These farmers see this as backward looking—regardless of whether it is or is not. "They are used to technological solutions and we want to consider the possible benefits of this approach for the environment." Further, Joyce Tait says, in many cases IPM has only worked where conventional agriculture has failed. She cites cotton-growing in Texas and rice production in Indonesia as examples. Closer to home she says that IPM, and in particular biological control, in glasshouses only took off because it was seen as the only way to grow tomatoes and cucumbers without regularly exceeding maximum residue levels.
    SNH believe there is a range of environmentally beneficial technology for intensive agriculture which could be produced by industry. These are not being developed beyond the earliest stages of R&D for a number of reasons:

• many of the current, more environmentally damaging inputs to intensive agriculture are now off-patent and relatively cheap, making it difficult for an expensive new product to find a niche in the market and recoup its R&D costs;

• some international agrochemical companies are reluctant to develop products likely to compete with their existing chemically-based business strategies;

• agricultural markets are in a depressed state and are not seen as attractive areas of investment;

• public financial support for near-market development work, and free advice to farmers on how to implement new technologies is decreasing.

The TIBRE project is in its first exploratory year, which may be extended to a longer term programme, and has three main components:

Option appraisal  
This stage has nearly been completed by SNH, which commissioned work from experts to gather information on the feasibility and desirability of technological options. SNH is now evaluating the reports. Early indications suggest that there is scope for new technology to reduce the environmental impact of intensive farming.
    The areas of commissioned work include: agricultural engineering and pollution control; novel chemical products which may reduce environmental impact; information technology in the management of arable farming in northern Europe—in particular 'precision farming' which involves improved targeting of inputs according to requirements; assessments of governmental pesticide reduction programmes (in the Netherlands and Denmark); biological/biotechnological approaches in arable agriculture; and established practice in integrated pest management. Emphasis will be placed by SNH on the need to identify regulatory and policy changes that could be introduced to encourage industry to make the necessary investment in R&D and in the marketing of products.

On-farm feasibility studies 
The second component of TIBRE will include a set of feasibility studies carried out by SNH staff and local farmers. They will explore the new technologies identified above and produce plans for implementing the most promising options.

Inter-agency working group 
The third component will be an inter-agency working group to guide the first two strands of the programme and to help in integrating the interests and perspectives of those involved. This will include farmers organisations, researchers, advisors, government, industry, including agrochemical and food retail, and voluntary bodies, including SAFE and The Pesticides Trust [now PAN UK]. The first meeting was in June.
    The Pesticides Trust welcomes this initiative of SNH, which will address the strategic planning of agricultural research—in terms of the environmental impact of intensive farming. (DB)

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 24, June 1994, page 9]