Despite the generally favorable climate, Europe has 10 percent of the world's irrigated acreage. Most of that is in the Russian Federation, but Italy, Spain, and Romania also have significant amounts. A striking feature of European agriculture is the extent to which agricultural lands some of them former wetlands have been drained, to ensure uniform moisture for the crops being grown. In Finland, 91 percent of the agricultural land has been drained. Hungary has seen 70 percent of its land drained; the Netherlands, 65 percent; Britain, 60 percent; and Germany, 50 percent.
Environment
One factor that is assuming increasing influence over European agriculture is environmental concerns. The heavy use of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides has created damaging environmental conditions in some countries. The amount of cow manure generated in the Netherlands by its superefficient dairy industry is more than the land of the entire country could absorb. The Dutch government subsidizes a company that composts some of this manure and sells it abroad as fertilizer for flowers. Sweden compensates farmers who reduce the runoff from their farms, a growing problem as the nitrogen content in water rises from fertilizer run off. The EU has introduced a program to compensate those who set land aside for environmental protection, but more needs to be done to bring the EU's production levels closer to domestic demand, as well as to reduce the cost to consumers and tax payers of the subsidies paid to farmers.
Organic Farming and Bioengineering
Several European countries, including the Czech Republic, France, and the United Kingdom, have introduced programs to encourage organic farming. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, however, a mere 2 percent of European crops were raised organically. Some scientists believe that environmental improvement could be generated if crops were developed that could ward off the insects that attack them, or that provide their own nitrogen, as the leguminous plants (peas and beans) do. Nevertheless, the European environmental movement has strongly opposed genetically modified foods, in part citing risks to health and the environment.
See also: Agricultural Revolution
|
