Ráðunautafundur - 15.02.2001, Blaðsíða 26

16
around 76% of the land area and is responsibie for the employment of over 0.5 million peo-
ple. Obviously the main agricultural outputs are the production of a range of essential nutri-
tional products, raw material for industiy and the production of bio-energy. Yet farming plays
a far more important ‘multi-functional’ role than mere agricultural statistics imply, for it
shapes and colours our landscape and defines the fabric of rural life.
Farming in tlie UK has a long and varied history with evidence of random, variable pre-
historic field systems (Neolithic - iron age), flowing contoured fields of the ‘ridge and fur-
row’ system (1300-1700) and the regular, almost military precision of fields created by the
enclosure acts of 1720-1860. The combination of these systems together wáth field bounda-
ries and woodlands creates our present day countryside and is a result of the natural world
and human activities interacting with each other for over 140 centuries. A record of human
design as w'ell as default.
It is well recognised that the 20th century was
one of tremendous change for British agriculture.
The number of farrns and farm w'orkers fell by 62
and 82% respectively with most of the changes oc-
curring in the last 50 years (Wilkins 2000). Ad-
vances in technology and innovations in grassland
management coupled with govemment incentive
schemes encouraged reseeding of land throughout
the UK between 1940 and 1980 (Fig. 1).
The intensification of grassland farming (par-
ticularly in the Welsh uplands) was justifíed on the
grounds of national food security, contribution to
the balance of payments and rural prosperity. Agri-
Perm.grass
1900
1950
2000
Figure 1. Area of grassland in England and
Wales (M ha).
culture was not identified as a threat to the countryside and for 40 years intensification and
concomitant increases in output from grassland systems (Figs. 2 and 3) w'as embraced with
little regard for nature conservation objectives (Sheil 1976). By the end of 1980 grassland
comprised approxiniately 50% of UK agricultural land with rough and hill grazing, perma-
ncnt grass and silage grassland dominating the landscape of much of western and northern
Britain (Alcock 1992, Bunce et al. 1996).
Nu
35
30
25
20 •
♦♦
15
10
5
0
1900
„Sheep
♦♦♦
. Cattle
♦ ♦

w
<u
c
E
1950
2000
Figure 2. Numbers of sheep and cattle in
England and Wales (M).
Figure 3. Use of fertiliser in the UK (M t N).