In recent decades UK agriculture has undergone a transformation from largely self-sufficient, traditional farming systems to industrialised systems reliant on external inputs of fuel energy and chemicals, and which produce considerable amounts of non-recycled waste. Many of the isolated laws of nature discovered by modern science have been applied to new farming technologies. Serious environmental concerns have been raised, such as water pollution or the contribution of agriculture to greenhouse gases and global warming. There is concern about the long term health effects of pesticide residues in food and water, and there has been a succession of food safety scares, of which BSE is the most dramatic and costly example. Clearly, industrialised farming is giving rise to environmental imbalances and health concerns, and, with its reliance on fossil fuel energy, it is not sustainable long-term.

The Natural Law Party will promote organic agriculture and supports the aims of the Soil Association and other such recognised organisations. We will foster farming practices that result in the development of agricultural ecosystems that have the diversity, stability and resilience of natural ecosystems.

This will be realised by, for example:

• The utilisation of residues and wastes within the food system to ensure the recycling of mineral nutrients, the avoidance of pollution, and the elimination of the need for fertilizers produced using fossil fuel energy;
• Cultural techniques that minimize or eliminate fuel energy requirements for tillage and harvesting;
  
• Crop diversification and rotation to reduce the risk of losses to pests and disease;
  
• The use of non-chemical crop protection methods;
  
• The humane treatment of farm animals;
  
• Initiatives to encourage home food production and processing using gardens, allotments and urban farming;
• Initiatives to encourage tree planting in agroforestry schemes for perennial food crops, for renewable biomass fuel (see Energy policy), for timber, and for benefits in soil stabilisation, nutrient recycling, water management and climate improvement;
• The harmonious integration of landscape and people;
• Educational programmes informing consumers of the benefits of organically grown food.

These measures will help rejuvenate the soil and reverse the many dangerous trends resulting from intensive industrialised agriculture, such as the erosion of the topsoil accumulated over millennia; the leaching of minerals from the soil; the increasing concentration of harmful chemicals in the water table, streams, and rivers; and the local extermination of many soil organisms that are a vital part of healthy food production and a balanced ecosystem.

It must also be noted that industrialised agriculture involves enormous hidden costs which are not included in the cost of food. These include the contribution to the 120 million being spent each year by water companies to clean up polluted water supplies caused by agrochemicals and industrial waste - an amount that is added to our water bills.

In addition, the taxpayer supports directly many other costs, such as the cost of the BSE crisis and other food crises, and the cost of restoring the countryside.

Worldwide, three million cases of acute pesticide poisoning leading to more than 200,000 fatalities are estimated to occur annually. Resistance of insect pests and weeds to pesticides and herbicides is an increasing problem. This indicates a need for a change in crop protection strategies. Genetic engineering is an attempt to extend this fight against Nature for a few more years using newer weapons, which could eventually have far higher costs than anything we can now imagine (see section below on Genetically Engineered Foods).

Even without considering the many hidden costs of industrialised agriculture, organic agriculture that incorporates environmentally sound technological advances is now highly profitable, and the shift to healthy organic production is therefore entirely viable. In fact, it is a shift that must be made urgently before chemical agriculture and genetic engineering distort natural systems to a point where organic farming is impossible.

There is now a great deal of concern about potential damage to human health arising from a continual long-term, low-level pesticide exposure. In particular concern has been raised about possible cancers, genetic damage, foetal damage, various neurobehavioural and neurological disorders, as well as allergies and other immuno-regulatory disorders associated with low-level exposure to pesticides. References: The BMA Guide to Pesticides, Chemicals, and Health. Edward Arnold, 1992 ; Robbins C: Poisoned Harvest: a Consumers Guide to Pesticide Use and Abuse. Victor Gollanz Ltd 300-313, 1991.

Recent research has shown that nitrate fertilizers may decrease the nutritional value of crops, manganese and zinc being particularly affected. Reference: Nutrition and Health 1992, 8: 1-6.

Almost 40 percent of pesticides currently in use are linked with at least one adverse effect. Reference: The London Food Commission: Food adulteration and how to beat it. Unwin Paperbacks 1988.