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Modern Agriculture and Health
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Animal Farm Revisited Modern Agriculture and Health |
Location: [ECE]
Mr. Kaj Bärlund is the Director of the Environment and Human Settlements Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN-ECE).
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How can you say that the mad cow epidemic has had positive
effects?
| Kaj Bärlund: Because it has made the consumers and the authorities seriously question what we eat. It is a terrible thing to say but as far as the environment is concerned there's nothing like an accident to put the record straight. It is often only then that people take the environmental experts' warnings seriously. |
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And in the case of mad cow disease? | Kaj Bärlund: In this case the consumers finally realized that what was on their plates was maybe not as good as it looked or as they were led to believe. They suddenly discovered that Grand dad's way of farming had long been replaced by modern agriculture, whose main aim is to make a fast buck. |
| What is it exactly that you criticize, the products that are on sale or the way in which they are produced? | Kaj Bärlund: You cannot separate the two. If the farmer's sole aim is to produce as much as possible as fast as possible, chances are that he will not take enough care of the water, the soil and the environment in general and his products could have harmful effects on health. |
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Can you give an example?
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Kaj Bärlund:
Let's take potatoes, for instance. Firstly, to
maximize the potato yield, the field must be large so that mechanization
can be increased and manual labour reduced. The problem in our
region is that to have large tracts of land you have to cut down
trees, which increases soil erosion and infiltration. So more
ground water and rivers are polluted, since there's nothing to
retain the fertilizers and the pesticides that are used for the
crops.
Secondly, the farmer will use more fertilizer. In some countries up to 200 kg of nitrogen fertilizer are used per year per hectare. The problem with these fertilizers is that their bulk, up to 60% to be precise, will run off with rain water or irrigation water and serve no purpose except to pollute aquifers. In fact, this is a problem that the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe has long been concerned about. And its Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes is meant to help counter such effects. Finally, to avoid having to weed the field as was done in the good old days, the farmer will use a huge quantity of weed-killer and pesticide in his fight against potato pests. And before the harvest he will spray the fields with chemicals so that the haulm rots and he doesn't have to cut it. |
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Does anyone actually eat those potatoes?
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Kaj Bärlund:
Of course! These are the potatoes that you can
buy in any supermarket. And to produce them the modern-day farmer
will have used many different chemicals, only part of which will
make it to your plate, the rest will end up in rivers and groundwater,
so the consumer will drink it later.
For the raising of livestock, the situation is worse because the effects are felt even further afield. In the past 20 years Europe has produced increasing quantities of meat in sometimes harrowing conditions. To get an idea of what I'm talking about you should visit some industrial livestock farms, where animals are penned in year after year without ever moving. The animal is turned into a costly "machine" that transforms more or less natural feed into meat. |
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Why costly?
| Kaj Bärlund: Because to feed it -- if we are lucky and it eats something besides animal meal -- special crops will have to be grown, which will replace other crops not only in Europe, but above all in the Third World. The classic example is that of the Netherlands. To feed its livestock it is necessary not only to use the bulk of the country's arable land but also to import grain from all over the world. For every hectare in the Netherlands five hectares around the globe are needed to feed that livestock. |
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But is it possible to produce otherwise?
| Kaj Bärlund: Yes, it is possible to do things differently, but it is more expensive. |
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Is the consumer willing to pay more?
| Kaj Bärlund: If he realizes how much is at stake, I think he'll be willing to pay the difference. If he knows how his food has been produced, if there is a guarantee that the products that he eats are healthy, I'm sure he'll pay. |
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How do you inform him?
| Kaj Bärlund: Some countries have already introduced a system of official labels to inform the consumer of the different stages of production and the processing of the products that he will eat. |
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Who will do this?
| Kaj Bärlund: Either the health authorities, or the farmers' associations in cooperation with these authorities. |
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Will European agriculture be able to survive such rules?
Will it not be overwhelmed by foreign competition?
| Kaj Bärlund: Very often our agricultural production survives on subsidies. It would be better to use this money in a more environmentally friendly way. Moreover, the informed consumer will be able to choose between one product and another. So in the end it is on him and on him alone that the solution to this problem depends. |
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Apart from the price tag, will the consumer like these products?
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Kaj Bärlund:
That is also a matter of education. There is a
worldwide trend towards unifying tastes to expand markets. This
unification is based on the lowest common denominator. Producing
a cheese that will please the palate of a Frenchman, a Dane, an
Italian and an Englishman means that the final product will be
fairly bland.
To come back to beef, the meat of cattle raised entirely in pens will be more tender but less tasty than that of cattle raised in the open. But I believe the consumer is sufficiently intelligent to realize where his interests lie. In fact the key to solving the problem is the preparation of the food. Europe's cultural and culinary richness can meet the challenge. |
© UN/ECE June 1996