Sustainable Agriculture and Water Quality Control – A Structural Approach
Résumé
There is no disputing the fact that water pollution by nitrates is, in large part, caused by agricultural activities. Concerns about soil and water pollution by modern agricultural practices are becoming too important to be ignored. Point pollution can consist of direct discharges of animal excrement or be caused by the use of pesticides close to streams. Diffuse pollution caused by agricultural practices is more difficult to pin down. It is generally linked to systematic use of fertilisers and to the use of pesticides. The abatement capacity of the natural environment, partly due to dilution, partly due to the ability of plants and soils to absorb or fixate pollution, seems now to be constantly exceeded. Pollutants reach surface waters by run-off, and groundwater by infiltration. These different types of pollutant derive from the same production processes, thus suggesting that these activities use certain inputs in an inefficient or excessive way. In the research study reported here, we focus on the Brittany region in France, its agricultural sector and the impacts of agricultural activity on water quality in Brittany. Our research has mainly focused on the construction and application of analytical tools aimed at measuring environmental performances and economic costs of adaptation. These tools deal with the physical and technical characteristics of the agricultural product, leaving to one side the issues concerning markets and employment. The goal is to generate indicators that illustrate the confrontation between environmental performance and economic cost criteria, in the context of a comparative scenario analysis focused on growth and technological change paths for agricultural production in the Brittany region.(...)
Domaines
Environnement et Société
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
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