Farms could be wasteland in 30 years, warns Gove

PARTS of Britain’s farmland are just 30 to 40 years away from becoming barren wastelands, Michael Gove has warned.

Intensive farming, chemical sprays, and use of heavy machinery is leading to ‘the fundamental eradication of soil fertility’, said the Environment Secretary.

Speaking at the parliamentary launch of the Sustainable Soils Alliance (SSA), he said: ‘We have encouraged a type of farming which has damaged the earth.

‘Countries can withstand coups d’etat, wars and conflict, even leaving the EU, but no country can withstand the loss of its soil and fertility.

‘If you have heavy machines churning the soil and impacting it, if you drench it in chemicals that improve yields but in the long term undercut the future fertility of that soil, you can increase yields year on year but ultimately you really are cutting the ground away from beneath your own feet. Farmers know that.’

Mr Gove said he hoped the SSA, a body formed with the mission of bringing UK soils back to health within a generation, would hold government to account.

Britain’s farms will be in the spotlight as the country exits the European Union – and the Common Agricultural Policy.

Environmental groups see Mr Gove’s remarks as a sign reforms will be more sympathetic to less intensive farming practices. He has previously signalled he would not want to see ‘US- style’ practices such as chlorine-washed chicken or GM crops. His comments also come as Defra is set to release a new agriculture bill and a 25-year environmental plan.

Intense farming practices, such as deep ploughing, rapid crop-rotation and everlarger fields can allow wind and rain to carry away topsoil. One of the most badly hit areas has been the East Anglian Fens.

According to the Committee on Climate Change, the UK has lost 84 per cent of its fertile topsoil since 1850, with the erosion at a rate of 1cm to 3cm a year.

National Farmers Union’s chairman Mark Pope said members were increasingly interested in issues of soil fertility. In a blog post, he wrote: ‘We only get one lot of soil on our farms, so poor management could have major, irreversible impacts.’