Book Reviews - Pesticides News No. 41

Reforming the pesticide industry    
Bugs in the System is a ground-breaking publication which will help move forward the debate around pesticides and sustainable agriculture. Using economic models, stakeholder analyses, and ‘future searching’ techniques, ‘Bugs’ takes a hard look at the future of the pesticide industry, as well as its potential to redesign itself in order to meet increasing demands from many sectors of society for more sustainable agriculture.
    Public interest ‘stakeholders’ in sustainable production may consider the focus on reforming agrochemical companies narrow, but the study is a brave attempt to grapple with serious realities. The authors believe the agrochemical industry is unsustainable in its present form and suggest tools and insights, primarily directed towards the industry itself, to support development of new and innovative strategies.
    Agrochemical companies have partly achieved their dominant position in industrialised agriculture through market distortions which subsidised farmers to over-produce and encouraged intensive, high input production. New World Trade Organisation regulations will now see the progressive removal of these subsidies. Furthermore, increased demands from regulators in the major markets makes product development more costly, while free trade is also disrupting the differential pricing system used by companies to sell their products at the maximum the market would sustain in each country.
    In a brutal analysis of the impact of these strategies, the authors highlight the declining importance of farmers in the food system. This has been accompanied by a rise in importance of other factors: not only the power of agrochemical company products and marketing, but also the growing control of food processors and retailers and the now undoubted influence of consumer and environmental organisations. The authors have considerable sympathy for farmers, and believe the industry argument that pesticides ‘feed the world’ has been counter-productive: “It is quite clear” states the chapter Sustainable business v. the pesticide business, “that intensive farming in the industrialized world can never be a solution to food problems in the developing world.”
    The chapters dealing with economic issues, the True price of pesticides, and Incorporating external impacts in pest management choices, provide an excellent overview of available  studies, and introduce strategies for calculating the external cost. A key recommendation addresses the need for an environmental impact quotient on each active ingredient, incorporating health and ecological impacts, to derive a calibrated real cost per product as a means of accurately levying pesticide taxes, also based on society’s willingness to pay these additional costs. This strategy fits well with the increasing orientation of government agencies to consider the whole agri-food chain, focusing on the links between food safety, health and environmental measures.
    In looking at questions of sustainability, the authors argue that progressive companies will need to look to providing services rather than products. A brief flirtation in industry with more sustainable biological controls, shifted quickly to investment in biotechnology which provides far greater potential to control agricultural inputs. This area is rapidly expanding despite its enormous unpopularity with consumers; profound consequences in undermining small-scale farming; potential to narrow agricultural biodiversity and the consequent patenting, seen as biopiracy, of indigenous plant varieties and crops bred by farmers over centuries. The book deals critically with these agrochemical corporation strategies: though with some sympathy for corporate need to better handle its image and engage in debate with all stakeholders rather than repeat the poor public perception of the pesticide industry.
    The vision proposed by the authors is for greater recognition by industry of the unacceptable face of pesticides and a willingness to innovate for pesticide substitution. Among the many proposals is a need for greater openness and exchange between corporate researchers and management with innovators of alternative agriculture. Another key is seen to be the provision of services rather than products. A move already made by companies, for example through a company-farmer ‘performance contract’, whereby the company guarantees a certain performance for the crop. A contract would specify the amount and quality of the crop guaranteed to the farmer. In its turn, the corporation specifies in a detailed plan what the farmer is to do and stays in close contact with the farmer during the growing period. Given the present direction of industry, however, it is likely that such performance contracts will be tied to use of genetically engineered crops and linked pesticide products, rather than towards alternative agriculture. 
    Many of the stakeholders addressed by this book may have preferred a fuller discussion of the alternative courses. Nevertheless, in the sections addressing the future of the pesticide industry, the book provides a wealth of material for discussion, debate, and consideration of strategic controls on corporations. (BD)

William Vorley and Dennis Keeney, Bugs in the System, Earthscan Publications, 120 Pentonville Road, London N1 9JN, UK, Fax +44 (0) 171 278 1142, 1998, 222pp. Order direct from Amazon.co.uk.

Order direct from Amazon.co.uk.

Sustainable food systems  
“We can live better in more connected communities, we can protect our natural environment, we can eat well and safely.” In his latest book, Jules Pretty outlines a vision of a countryside that can offer a better future to many of  its various ‘stakeholders’ by spreading its benefits more widely. Using clear argument supported by extensive research Pretty leads us through the necessary steps towards a more sustainable food and farming system.
    Pretty describes two alternatives for the future of agriculture. The first is of an industry increasingly dominated by a few large corporations less and less linked to rural communities, the environment or urban consumers of food. The alternative is one of dynamic rural economies, sustainable systems of food production and cohesive rural communities. We are warned that this vision requires some imagination, even leaps of faith.
    The first chapter, entitled Recreating a Living Land considers the winners and losers over the last 50 years of change in European agriculture. Input suppliers and processing and retailing companies have benefited greatly from changes in agriculture in recent years. The urban consumer has gained in terms of plentiful and cheap food supplies, but is increasingly concerned that food quality and safety have been compromised. Farmers, rural workers and their communities have tended to lose out. Rural unemployment and poverty are common. In Britain some rural districts have 30-40% of households under the poverty line. Natural resources have been damaged through pollution and over-exploitation. By investing more in natural and social resources Pretty maintains that we may not only recreate some of the features that have been lost from our countryside but may also benefit from a substantial ‘sustainability’ dividend.
    The second and third chapters consider sustainable agriculture. In the latter part of this century external inputs such as pesticides and fertilisers have, to a large degree, replaced natural processes. Pretty argues that by minimising external inputs and utilising and regenerating internal resources more effectively, both farmers and rural environments can benefit.
    Pretty identifies a major obstacle to the adoption of sustainable agriculture as a lack of research, information and management skills. He proposes more participatory learning opportunities for farmers alongside policy changes to encourage sustainable practices.
    Chapters 4 and 5 examine food systems. Pretty considers ways in which the consumer can be put in more direct contact with the producer in order to increase the share of money going to producers and to increase social and commercial links between the two groups. 
    Chapters 6 and 7 address the question of sustainable rural development. When CAP was established in 1957 the six member countries had 22 million farmers. Today there are about 7 million. Farms have become larger and increasingly mechanised. Agriculture is no longer a significant contributor to rural employment and livelihoods. Pretty argues that by moving towards a more sustainable agricultural system, we could enjoy significantly greater employment opportunities and more vibrant rural communities.
    The Living Land is essential reading for anyone interested in agriculture, the environment or rural development. (SW)

Jules Pretty, The Living Land, Earthscan Publications (details above) 1998, 336pp. Order direct from Amazon.co.uk.

Locust control  
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has published a second volume of technical reports from the Locustox project in Senegal. The research addresses the important question of risk associated with locust and grasshopper control.
    Contamination of water sources may have serious implications in terms of human health and ecology. Although not deliberately targeted during spray operations, water bodies are often contaminated by pesticides during aerial spraying operations for locusts. The report describes aquatic ecotoxicological studies carried out in temporary ponds using the pesticides bendiocarb and deltamethrin. A macro-crustacean, Streptocephalus sudanicus, and a hemipteran insect, Anisops sardeus, proved highly sensitive to both products and were selected as test species for the subsequent laboratory screening of several pesticides.
    There is a significant risk of human poisoning among spray operatives and store keepers. Tests showed that those operating air blast sprayers were at greater risk than those working with ULVA-mast sprayers. In general spray operatives were more affected than other groups.
    This series of reports makes a useful contribution to a vitally important debate about the effects of locust and grasshopper control on human health and ecology.

James W Everts, Djibril Mbaye, Oumar Barry, Wim Mullie (Eds.), Environmental Side-Effects of Locust and Grasshopper Control, Vol. II, FAO, AGPP, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100, Rome, Italy, 1998, 199pp.

Generic pesticides update  
The third and final volume in the series of reports from Agrow on generic pesticides is now available (see PN40 p22 for a review of the previous reports). Volume 3 focuses on the role played by generic pesticide producers, traders and distribution companies in international crop protection markets and the factors and circumstances that have allowed them to establish their positions. A generic pesticide is defined as a pesticide whose patent has expired in most or all countries.
    The pesticide industry is currently going through a period of significant change. The leading R & D-based multinationals are undergoing changes of ownership, organisation and strategic focus. Biotechnology is having a significant impact on their operations. The largest 10-15 generic pesticide companies, currently dwarfed by the top R & D-based multinationals, are growing and most are striving to increase their international presence. 
    Agrow predicts growing cooperation between individual generic pesticide companies as they defend their positions in increasingly regulated markets. They also foresee increasing cooperation (and competition) between individual generic pesticide companies and the leading R & D-based multinationals.

Brian Hicks, Successful Business Strategies for R&D, June 1998, 114pp, Agrow Reports, 18/20 Hill Rise, Richmond, Surrey, TW10 6UA, UK, Fax +44 181 332 8992, www.pjbpubs.co.uk/agrep. Agrow offers its reports at half price to non-profit-making organisations.

Pesticides and credit  
Banking on Poisons is the report of the Regional Consultation on Pesticides and Credit and six case studies looking at the links between credit and pesticide use. It concludes that, although it is now generally indirect, there is a link between pesticides and credit—as long as lenders believe that modern high input agriculture is more viable than the alternatives, there will be a bias in lending. The challenge ahead is to demonstrate that alternative agriculture such as organic agriculture, integrated agriculture, or agro-forestry, are profitable and thus credit worthy.

Ronald Macfarlane, Banking on Poisons, PAN Asia-Pacific 1998, 227pp.

EU policy instruments   
The Fifth Environmental Action Programme forms the background of a series of reports studying pesticide problems in the European Union. This publication is the central policy report with its main focus on future plant protection (pesticide) policy in the EU.

AJ Oskam, RAN Vijftigschild and C Graveland, Additional EU Policy Instruments for Plant Protection Products, Wageningen Pers,  PO Box 42, NL-6700AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands, 1998, 297pp. Order direct from Amazon.co.uk.

Order direct from Amazon.co.uk

Environmental toxicology  
Environmental toxicology is the study of the action of chemicals upon ecosystems. This text book provides a good general introduction to all the major areas of environmental toxicology, including the fate of chemicals in the environment, environment toxicity testing, risk assessment, legislation, environmental monitoring and the future impact of industrial development on the environment.

Ian Shaw and John Chadwick, Principles of Environmental Toxicology, Taylor Francis, Rankine Road, Basingstoke, RG24 8PR, Fax +44 (0)1256 479438, 216pp.  
Order direct from Amazon.co.uk.

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 41, September 1998, pages 22-23]