'The White Plague' Hitting Home
Having recently read Feral by George Monbiot I am determined to stay positive about the state of ecology in the U.K and the possibility of rewilding to take off closer to home. I continue to find people inspiring myself and others to change for the sake of the environment, and with more creative solutions evolving I think it’s important to focus on the things we CAN do to help.
However, I am conflicted over one thing I have read, which has inspired this post.
In a chapter titled “Sheepwrecked” Monbiot identifies sheep as the “white plague”, “a slow-burning ecological disaster, which has done more damage to the living systems of this country than either climate change or industrial pollution”. The UK National Ecosystem Assessment found “Lowland landscapes have become less diverse as farming has become more intensive” and recognise the agricultural business as a main driver of biodiversity loss.
Sheep have reduced some of our most beautiful areas of grasslands to well trimmed golf courses. Monbiot writes “Spend two hours sitting in a bushy suburban garden and you are likely to see more birds and of a greater range of species than in walking five miles across almost any part of the British uplands. The land has been sheepwrecked.”.
With 15.4 million sheep in England (according to Farming Statistics, Land Use, Livestock Populations and Agricultural Workforce 2019 - England) I struggle to imagine the industry going anywhere any time soon. Just over three-quarters of the area of Wales is devoted to livestock farming, largely for the meat industry, and apparently Britains food supply. So it seems remarkably inefficient that by value, Wales imports seven times as much meat as it exports (UK National Ecosystem Assessment. Chapter 20, Figure 20.39: Imports and exports of food commodities in Wales.)
But the problem is, having grown up surrounded by farmers whose families have been in the trade for years I can’t agree with you completely. Without agriculture and the support of local business where would they be? It’s impossible to imagine our country without the farmers and livestock, until we can also imagine an alternative. The Farming Statistic report released by National Statistics found ‘the total number of people working in agriculture in England was 306,000 on 1 June 2019’. With our rapid development in automatism already replacing a huge number of physical jobs for more effective substitutes, I think it’s important to remind ourselves every now and then, development isn’t always a positive/welcomed solution. It is forecasted in the UK, 20% of current jobs will be automated over the next ten years, according to the McKinsey Report.