UK Agricultural Policy Post-Brexit Editor: Will Melling Writers: Bence Borbely, Trevor Chow, Tom Nott, Yang Zuo
4. Water 4.1 Overview ‘Clean and plentiful water’ and ‘protection from and mitigation of environmental hazards’, such as flooding, are laid out as public goods in the 2020 Agricultural Act 139. Mainstream farming in the UK currently prevents, rather than facilitates, the provision of these public goods. Polluted water and heightened flood risk result from the poor management of soils and land associated with modern intensive agricultural methods. Clean water can therefore be provided by improving soils through SICS (as detailed in the ‘Soil quality’ section) and embedding the ‘Pay to Pollute principle’ (see the ‘Pay-to-Pollute’ section), which would reduce chemical use and, therefore, river pollution. Flood risk can also be reduced by maintaining soil quality. In short, both clean water and reduced flood risk can be provided by transitioning to sustainable farming techniques. This would benefit the economy on a whole: saving money spent by water companies on cleaning water for drinking, and by the Environment Agency on building hard engineered flood defences, whilst enhancing natural capital. Since the middle of the twentieth century, intensive and agrichemical agriculture has done immense damage to UK river systems140. Currently, partly due to poor management practices, agrochemicals, such as fertilisers, pesticides and slurries run off farmland to pollute streams and rivers141. Of the 24 megatons of phosphorus fertilisers applied each year, less than 15% is actually absorbed by crops and these chemicals create hypoxic dead zones in oceans and rivers142. Failure of slurry holding pits and the spreading of slurry in winter also releases slurry into river systems and destroys biodiversity 143. Meanwhile, other pastoral practices like sheep dipping add further residual chemicals into the river system 144. In terms of drainage, run-off is a big problem for many rivers, and has been exaggerated by farming practices. Degraded soils are unable to retain water effectively, leading to an increased risk of flooding. Moorlands drainage and over-grazing in the uplands have exposed fragile soils and increased surface runoff145. At lower elevations, river catchments are sometimes ploughed up for crops, also increasing soil exposure and runoff146. The impacts of these practices are likely
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UK Parliament, The Agriculture Act 2020 (UK Parliament, 3 December 2020) <https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8702/> accessed 3rd January 2021 140 Dieter Helm, Green and Prosperous Land: A Blueprint for Rescuing the British Countryside (Harper Collins 2019) pp20 141 Dieter Helm, Green and Prosperous Land: A Blueprint for Rescuing the British Countryside (Harper Collins 2019) pp19 142 The Soil Association, 'The future of British farming outside the EU' (The Soil Association, 20 March 2017) <https://www.soilassociation.org/media/10560/soil-association-report.pdf> accessed 4th January 2021 143 Dieter Helm, Green and Prosperous Land: A Blueprint for Rescuing the British Countryside (Harper Collins 2019) pp64 144 Dieter Helm, Green and Prosperous Land: A Blueprint for Rescuing the British Countryside (Harper Collins 2019) pp64 145 Dieter Helm, Green and Prosperous Land: A Blueprint for Rescuing the British Countryside (Harper Collins 2019) pp62 146 Dieter Helm, Green and Prosperous Land: A Blueprint for Rescuing the British Countryside (Harper Collins 2019) pp62
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