- Email: [email protected]
Conservation and agriculture
334
CONSERVATION
AND AGRICULTURE
Conservation and Agriculture. Joan Davidson and Richard Lloyd (Editors). John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, Great Britain, 1977, 252 pp., 2 12.00, US$ 24.00, ISBN o-471-99502-9. Conservation of landscape on the one hand and continued development of modern agriculture on the other seem irreconcilable objectives. Yet, in democratic societies, compromise is the only available solution. Much has been written on the subject in recent years and, if mostly biassed towards arguments for conservation, this is perhaps understandable. Conservationists tend to feel their case is pitted against a seemingly immovable and powerful economic force, the agricultural industry. Pressure groups and pro-conservation lobbies attract welcome publicity but seldom provide the detailed practical answers that, in the end, are necessary. A possible reason for this is that conservation ideals are either vague or unassailable in the totality of their rejection of agricultural change. It is consequently heartening to find a book which spells out some of the environmental implications of agriculture in the first part and, in its second part, reviews the means of conservation. Although the problem of the changing face of agriculture and the rural landscape is almost universal, this is a book about the situation in Britain, where lowland and upland agriculture cover more than 80% of the land surface. Fields, hedgerows, woods and wetlands provide a valuable scenic and biological resource but are threatened by the relentless advance of the “engineered environment”, a term used by the American J.B. Jackson in a similar context. This book details some of the consequences of recent and future developments in farming for the major ecosystems of the farmed countryside and looks realistically into the means by which wildlife and landscape values might be safeguarded. Certain natural or semi-natural systems are more susceptible to change than others. Correspondingly, the means of conservation have to be explored to see which are economically and politically feasible at the present time. The editors have drawn on 14 specialists for the 12 chapters, seven of which deal with the environmental implications of agriculture, whilst the remaining five treat the means of conservation. The first contribution looks at output prospects for British agriculture, extrapolating past trends to provide forecasts for medium-term and longer-range development. With the uncertainty inherent in population projections, this is no mean task, but the conclusion is reached that in the longer term there should be less need to farm every acre (or hectare) intensively. This, then, sets the scene for a conservation policy. In the ensuing chapters, the individual systems are analysed in a series of well informed and thoughtful contributions. For example, Dr. Norman Moore reviews the situation concerning arable land and conservationists should be grateful for his remark that the arable system cannot be regarded as a simple variant of natural systems, which are full of feedbacks. In contrast, the arable one is that of an inherently unstable monoculture, treated with a range of totally new mortality
335
factors exerting powerful selective pressures, and the whole largely determined by economic forces external to the system. On the subject of wetlands, Dr. Christopher Newbold shows the twin threats from improved drainage or lowering of water tables and the intrusion of pollutants. The full effects of both of these are not fully understood but the ecological pathways and vegetation changes are largely known. Farming practice in their vicinity will require timely modification to ensure survival of many of the wetlands communities. On hill and upland pasture, Dr. John King presents an illuminating summary of soil-vegetation-grazing practice relationships which deserves the attention of all those concerned with the future of hill land. These contributions illustrate the quality aimed for in the book. To conclude the first section, Messrs. Leonard and Stoakes (Countryside Commission) draw together agricultural change and landscape values to furnish a strategy for conservation. They add an appendix on landscape conservation in Europe which, regrettably, is not comprehensive; in the case of France, especially, it fails to record the apparent failure of a conservation policy for the bocage regions, which have undergone transformation on a scale far more extensive than anything experienced in the United Kingdom. But it would require another book (or books) to review the European situation exhaustively. The contributions on conservation measures deal successively with voluntary action, incentives, statutory controls, ,iew farming enterprises and prospects for action. The positive nature of these chapters is welcome; they review current achievements and possibilities rather than elusive ideals. Although the principles recounted here remain relatively unchanging, the details of conservation measures are apt to be overtaken by events, and it is a commentary on the pace of developments in this area that the editors have found it necessary to add a postscript concerning changes in official policy which have occurred since the main text went to press. For instance, the Forestry Commission’s re-introduction of a Small Woods Planting Grant has altered the outlook for the many small woodlands in the countryside, whilst the Countryside Commission has also taken new steps to enhance rural landscapes. Since publication of the book, the Advisory Council for Agriculture and Horticulture in England and Wales has issued its proposals (‘Agriculture and the Countryside’, May 1978) for extending the role of the Ministry of Agriculture in the area of conservation. This report is encouraging and constructive, demonstrating the will to succeed in resolving a problem which has caused considerable public concern. It supplements, rather than supercedes, ‘Conservation and Agriculture’, which should rank as one of the most comprehensive, balanced and stimulating compilations that has been produced on this subject. It deserves a wide readership. J.M. CABORN
(Edinburgh,
Great Britain)
CONSERVATION
AND AGRICULTURE
Conservation and Agriculture. Joan Davidson and Richard Lloyd (Editors). John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, Great Britain, 1977, 252 pp., 2 12.00, US$ 24.00, ISBN o-471-99502-9. Conservation of landscape on the one hand and continued development of modern agriculture on the other seem irreconcilable objectives. Yet, in democratic societies, compromise is the only available solution. Much has been written on the subject in recent years and, if mostly biassed towards arguments for conservation, this is perhaps understandable. Conservationists tend to feel their case is pitted against a seemingly immovable and powerful economic force, the agricultural industry. Pressure groups and pro-conservation lobbies attract welcome publicity but seldom provide the detailed practical answers that, in the end, are necessary. A possible reason for this is that conservation ideals are either vague or unassailable in the totality of their rejection of agricultural change. It is consequently heartening to find a book which spells out some of the environmental implications of agriculture in the first part and, in its second part, reviews the means of conservation. Although the problem of the changing face of agriculture and the rural landscape is almost universal, this is a book about the situation in Britain, where lowland and upland agriculture cover more than 80% of the land surface. Fields, hedgerows, woods and wetlands provide a valuable scenic and biological resource but are threatened by the relentless advance of the “engineered environment”, a term used by the American J.B. Jackson in a similar context. This book details some of the consequences of recent and future developments in farming for the major ecosystems of the farmed countryside and looks realistically into the means by which wildlife and landscape values might be safeguarded. Certain natural or semi-natural systems are more susceptible to change than others. Correspondingly, the means of conservation have to be explored to see which are economically and politically feasible at the present time. The editors have drawn on 14 specialists for the 12 chapters, seven of which deal with the environmental implications of agriculture, whilst the remaining five treat the means of conservation. The first contribution looks at output prospects for British agriculture, extrapolating past trends to provide forecasts for medium-term and longer-range development. With the uncertainty inherent in population projections, this is no mean task, but the conclusion is reached that in the longer term there should be less need to farm every acre (or hectare) intensively. This, then, sets the scene for a conservation policy. In the ensuing chapters, the individual systems are analysed in a series of well informed and thoughtful contributions. For example, Dr. Norman Moore reviews the situation concerning arable land and conservationists should be grateful for his remark that the arable system cannot be regarded as a simple variant of natural systems, which are full of feedbacks. In contrast, the arable one is that of an inherently unstable monoculture, treated with a range of totally new mortality
335
factors exerting powerful selective pressures, and the whole largely determined by economic forces external to the system. On the subject of wetlands, Dr. Christopher Newbold shows the twin threats from improved drainage or lowering of water tables and the intrusion of pollutants. The full effects of both of these are not fully understood but the ecological pathways and vegetation changes are largely known. Farming practice in their vicinity will require timely modification to ensure survival of many of the wetlands communities. On hill and upland pasture, Dr. John King presents an illuminating summary of soil-vegetation-grazing practice relationships which deserves the attention of all those concerned with the future of hill land. These contributions illustrate the quality aimed for in the book. To conclude the first section, Messrs. Leonard and Stoakes (Countryside Commission) draw together agricultural change and landscape values to furnish a strategy for conservation. They add an appendix on landscape conservation in Europe which, regrettably, is not comprehensive; in the case of France, especially, it fails to record the apparent failure of a conservation policy for the bocage regions, which have undergone transformation on a scale far more extensive than anything experienced in the United Kingdom. But it would require another book (or books) to review the European situation exhaustively. The contributions on conservation measures deal successively with voluntary action, incentives, statutory controls, ,iew farming enterprises and prospects for action. The positive nature of these chapters is welcome; they review current achievements and possibilities rather than elusive ideals. Although the principles recounted here remain relatively unchanging, the details of conservation measures are apt to be overtaken by events, and it is a commentary on the pace of developments in this area that the editors have found it necessary to add a postscript concerning changes in official policy which have occurred since the main text went to press. For instance, the Forestry Commission’s re-introduction of a Small Woods Planting Grant has altered the outlook for the many small woodlands in the countryside, whilst the Countryside Commission has also taken new steps to enhance rural landscapes. Since publication of the book, the Advisory Council for Agriculture and Horticulture in England and Wales has issued its proposals (‘Agriculture and the Countryside’, May 1978) for extending the role of the Ministry of Agriculture in the area of conservation. This report is encouraging and constructive, demonstrating the will to succeed in resolving a problem which has caused considerable public concern. It supplements, rather than supercedes, ‘Conservation and Agriculture’, which should rank as one of the most comprehensive, balanced and stimulating compilations that has been produced on this subject. It deserves a wide readership. J.M. CABORN
(Edinburgh,
Great Britain)