Interpretations of sustainable agriculture in the UK

Abstract

With the advent of Agenda 21, the blueprint for the transition to sustainable development for every nation on the globe, the issue of what exactly is sustainable agriculture is now being addressed, certainly throughout Europe. The food chain as a whole is the ultimate framework for a scrutiny of sustainability. However, this review looks only at the changing policy setting for seeking to define and implement sustainable agricultural practice in the UK. It analyses the key documents, reviews the state of science and assesses policy developments in wildlife/habitat management and the enhancement of scenery, from individual farms to whole landscapes. It concludes that there is neither the scientific understanding nor the economic tools to define and justify self-reliant agriculture on a farm-by-farm basis. Rather, it is more advantageous to devise integrated agricultural management arrangements for whole landscapes, crossing the borders of individual holdings. To do this, it is necessary to involve key stakeholders in the determination of the final landscape design. Then there is the tricky issue of how this may be implemented. That will be a sign that a policy for sustainable agriculture has come of age.