US EPA

3289879 

Journal Article 

An assessment of the total external costs of UK agriculture 

Pretty, JN; Brett, C; Gee, D; Hine, RE; Mason, CF; Morison, JIL; Raven, H; Rayment, MD; van der Bijl, G 

2000 

Yes 

Agricultural Systems
ISSN: 0308-521X 

ELSEVIER SCI LTD 

OXFORD 

65 

2 

113-136 

English 

10.1016/S0308-521X(00)00031-7 

WOS:000089669800003 

https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/assessment-total-external-costs-uk-agriculture/docview/49234407/se-2?accountid=171501
Exit
 

This trans-disciplinary study assesses total external
environmental and health costs of modern agriculture in the UK. A wide range of datasets have
been analysed to assess cost distribution across sectors. We calculate the annual total external
costs of UK agriculture in 1996 to be pound 2343 m (range for 1990-1996: pound 1149-3907 m),
equivalent to pound 208/ha of arable and permanent pasture. Significant costs arise from
contamination of drinking water with pesticides (pound 120 m/year), nitrate (pound 16 m),
Cryptosporidium (pound 23 m) and phosphate and soil (pound 55 m), from damage to wildlife,
habitats, hedgerows and drystone walls (pound 125 m), from emissions of gases (pound 1113 m),
from soil erosion and organic carbon losses (pound 106 m), from food poisoning (pound 169 m), and
from bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) (pound 607 m). This study has only estimated those
externalities that give rise to financial costs, and so is likely to underestimate the total
negative impacts of modern agriculture. These data help to identify policy priorities,
particularly over the most efficient way to internalise these external costs into prices. This
would imply a redirection of public subsidies towards encouraging those positive externalities
under-provided in the market place, combined with a mix of advisory and institutional mechanisms,
regulatory and legal measures, and economic instruments to correct negative externalities.
Further work examining the marginal costs and benefits of UK agriculture would help to inform
future policy development. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. 

externalities; agriculture; water pollution; health; pesticides; biodiversity; food poisoning; policies