Agricultural change

Over the last thirty years agricultural change in the economically developing world has been closely related to population growth. There has been an urgent need In increase food production to feed the increasing population. Some countries have responded with high-tech solutions, others have preferred a low-tech approach. Whatever the approach, the pressure to produce more food has often caused serious damage to the environment.

In the economically developed world, recent agricultural change has most often been due to government policies. In the 1970s and 1980s the European Union (EU) policies favored expanding food production. This caused huge economic problems llirough overproduction and it was also ruinous for the environment. As a result, policies in the 1990s have shifted. Now, the emphasis is put on reducing food production and protecting the environment.

The EU has made great efforts to reduce the output of farming. Indirectly this will also benefit the environment. In 1984 milk quotas were introduced to limit production in dairy farming, and since 1988 arable farmers have been paid to grow nothing! By taking 15 to 18 per cent of their arable land out of production for at least 5 years, they receive compensation of around £250 per hectare per year. By 1995, 13 per cent of all arable land in the UK lay unused and the EU's food mountains were drastically reduced.

Since 1992 the level of price support per tonne for crops has been reduced. Gradually price support is being replaced by fixed payments for each hectare cultivated. This should make it less attractive for farmers to get more from each hectare cultivated. The result — lower inputs of fertilizers and pesticides — should benefit the environment.

Various schemes, providing grants to farmers, have been devised to improve the countryside. In the UK, for example, local authorities pay farmers to plant new hedges and improve existing ones. A farm woodland scheme gives annual payments for planting trees on arable and grassland. In these areas farmers are paid to farm using traditional methods. They are not allowed to use chemical fertilizers; they can cut hay or silage only after certain dates each year. In return, farmers are paid up to $600 per hectare per year. In some areas farmers are paid compensation by the British government for farming with lower levels of nitrates. Again this reduces farming intensity. Grants are also available to help farmers convert farmland to other activities such as golf courses, camp sites, theme parks and so on.

Some farmers have turned to organic farming. It is farming without using any artificial fertilizers or pesticides. The result is that each hectare produces less and the products cost more for the consumer to buy. Although the products of organic farming are more expensive, many customers will pay more for them because they contain no harmful chemicals. Organically grown crops are also attractive because they are produced by a sustainable system which does not damage the environment.

MINING

The extraction of minerals from the ground is of great importance in many countries, but makes very little contribution to the economic life of many others.

Methods of mining. A wide variety of different methods of mining are used throughout the world. In some places the valuable mineral lies within a few metres of the surface and can be easily reached. In other places the mineral deposits may be at much greater depths, and expensive equipment is needed to work (mine) them. In such cases mining is usually done by large companies, which have the capital and technical know-how which is needed to develop them.

Where the mineral deposit lies within a few metres of the surface it can be mined by open-cast methods. In open-cast mining the few metres of the unwanted material lying on top of the mineral deposit is removed. If the mineral-bearing rock is soft it can be simply dug out.

If the mineral deposit is covered by a great thickness of other rock, open-cast methods become too expensive and therefore some kind of underground mining has to be used. This generally involves digging vertical shafts, which in mines in some parts of the world extend downwards to a great depth. From these shafts, horizontal tunnels are driven outwards until the mineral deposit is reached.

In the case of petroleum and natural gas, the depos.t is reached by a well. It is called drilling. This may take place either on dry land or on the seabed.

Problems of the mining industry. Throughout the world the mining industry is associated with a number of problems. Perhaps the most serious of these problems relates to the fact that mineral deposits are non-renewable resources. That is to say, they eventually become exhausted (worked out). In this respect the mining industry is very different from other forms of land-use such as agriculture and forestry. In both cases production can go on forever, if the land is properly managed. The length of the working life of mineral deposits varies greatly It depends upon the size of the original deposit, and also upon the rate at which extraction takes place. In recent years the governments of many countries throughout the world have become increasingly concerned about the rate at which then- valuable mineral resources are being used up.

Another problem in many of the less developed countries has to do with the ownership of the mining industry. The development of large-scale mining using modem methods requires an enormous outlay (money invested in a project) of capital and also a high level of managerial and technical expertise. In the past many such countries did not have this capital and expertise, and so had to rely upon foreign mining companies to develop their mineral deposits for them. Profits from mining thus tended to leave the country. In recent years the governments of many countries have objected to the fact that their valuable natural resources are controlled by foreign companies. In some countries the government has attempted to deal with the problem by nationalising either the whole of the mining industry, or at least certain sections of it. Nationalisation means that ownership passes to the government of the country concerned. In other countries the government has simply preferred to take shares in the foreign mining companies. In this case the original company generally continues to provide the necessary managerial and technical expertise, but the government now takes a share of the profits. It also in better position to exercise control over the way in which the country's mineral resources are managed.

Another problem has to do with the price of minerals on the world market. In the past mineral prices have tended to fluctuate greatly over fairly short periods of time. These price fluctuations have very serious consequences for tiny countries whose economy depends heavily upon the production of a limited range of minerals. In particular it greatly affects their ability to earn the foreign currency which they need in order to pay for their imports.

Yet another problem has to do with the impact which mining can have upon the landscape. Mining can damage the environment in several ways. In many countries, however, the government now enforces strict regulations regarding o-pen-cast mining. Where this is the case, mining companies are required to restore the land fully once they have removed the valuable mineral deposit. In Jamaica, for example, there is an agreement among the bauxite companies on the techniques to be used in restoring land which has been mined. The first half metre or so of top soil is carefully removed and stored, so that it can be replaced once the mine becomes worked out. Some of the bauxite companies in Jamaica have planted forests on mined-out land. Other restored land has been used to grow vegetables and to rear (raise) livestock.