Industrial agriculture is not sustainable

In the decades since World War Two, food production has become increasingly intensive. Agriculture supported by government subsidies provides a huge market for chemical companies.

In 1990, Western Europe was the largest market for pesticides compared to other world regions, with sales of $8,495 million. Large agrochemical companies increasingly dominate the production and supply of agricultural inputs. Companies often supply a diverse range of farm inputs, including pesticides, fertilisers, seeds and, increasingly, products of genetic engineering. Ciba-Geigy, for example, has produced a 'package' of seeds with genetic-engineered herbicide tolerance, with three accompanying chemicals. In the face of such corporate control, it is very difficult for environmentally conscious farmers to leave the treadmill of industrial agriculture.

Intensive farming and its large-scale use of chemicals have not sustained crop yields. Farmers in the US have increased their use of pesticides tenfold since 1940, yet crop losses have not been reduced.

Furthermore, agricultural policies have failed to provide the majority of farmers with a viable income, and they threaten the survival of many farms.

The external costs are paid for and suffered by society as a whole, as well as borne by the environment.

In the United States, it has been calculated that the total environmental and public health costs of pesticide use, alone, are about $3-4 billion a year - equivalent to almost $1 in externality costs for every $1 of pesticide sold in the country. Clean-up is expensive. In the UK, for example, it would cost an estimated 450 million pounds sterling to reduce levels of pesticide residues to simply conform to legal drinking water standards. The bill is not likely to be paid by pesticide manufacturers but by the 12 million consumers whose water exceeds the Legal limit.

Globally, pesticide externality costs are estimated to be as high as $100-200 billion a year, equivalent to $5-10 for every $1 of pesticides sold.