Agricultural change

The pressures on the environment resulting from agricultural changes have received much attention. Major changes in agricultural activity since the 1940s in the UK include:

1. 1 Increasing levels of farm mechanisation, energy inputs and decline in the labour force

2. This long-term change accelerated after the Second World War.

3. 2 Development of highly productive strains of crops and livestock

4. For example, as a result of genetic improvements, spring barley yields have increased by an average of 0.84% per year in the last 30 years.

5. 3 Increasing use of fertilisers and pesticides

6. Fertiliser use has increased about 8 times in the last 50 years, with nitrate application showing the greatest increase at about 16 times. Coupled with the development of highly productive strains of crops, there has been a marked rise in crop productivity. Agricultural food production in the UK has increased by a factor of about 100% since 1955, for example yields per hectare of wheat and barley have nearly doubled, root crop production has increased by 50–75% and milk volumes per cow have increased by about 50%.

7. 4 Changes in farm size

8. Between 1949 and 1979 the number of farms which were larger than 122 ha in the UK increased from 12 317 to 16 765. Accompanying this has been an increase in field sizes to accommodate larger machinery and reduce the proportion of non-productive headlands used for turning. The removal of hedgerows, as a consequence, has been substantial (see below).

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