Summary

SfL strongly supports Integrated Farm Management and urges the government to provide incentives to stimulate its wider application in the farming industry. In particular, implementation of many of the recommendations in the document "Arable cropping and the Environment", published jointly by DEFRA and HGCA in January 2002, as direct policies would see these desirable ends advanced (S3).

   The use of pesticides and herbicides in the provision of increased crop yields in conventional agriculture is studied and we strongly support the current system of regulation but are disappointed that the facts about pesticide use are often distorted by
organisations with alternative agendas.

We recommend that more publicity be given to the work of the independent committees that deal with pesticides and with cancer.  Such information should enable consumers to make a more reasoned choice.(S4)

 The claims by the organic farming industry are examined in some detail in the main text and Appendix 1. We could not uncover any evidence to support their beliefs that organic farming provided healthier and more nutritious food while protecting biodiversity.

 We believe that there is a place for accommodating different approaches to land utilisation, whether by conventional, integrated management, organic or GM  but that a long term strategy  -based on sound evidence and the need for sustainability - should be pursued to achieve this objective. (S5)

    We have considered in detail in the text and in Appendix 2 the ethics, risks and benefits of developing GM crops and advocate the sensitive and careful application of these new technologies. However, we cannot recommend the unrestricted applications of GM technologies in the UK and suggest some approaches, which would ensure the retention of biodiversity.

  We urge the government to vigorously support research and development of the agricultural sciences as the most rational strategy for meeting the future and current demands for sustainable agriculture. (S6)

 Our conclusions from our examination of these issues are unequivocal viz

 We believe that within the next few years the UK must decide whether it will be able to take its rightful place at the forefront of the innovative and imaginative approaches that the sensitive use of gene technology and of basic science can offer agriculture .