ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT MANAGEMENT

As we all have now experienced, the planet’s climate is changing.Although (for now) the main culprit seems to be the famous greenhouse gases (CO2, CFC, etc), intensive food production has also been identified as a major risk to manage.Artificial fertilizers, GMO’s and their corresponding pesticides are already prime suspects, but what about other sides of food production and its impact on the environment? Intensive crop production and dairy production take its toll on water safety and quality. Intensive meat production, cattle, poultry and pork, also pose a serious threat to the environment through massive production and concentration of fecal matter, which, rich in nitrogen as it is, contributes further to jeopardizing the fragile ecosystem of the Pampa, and its water resources.INCOMPATIBILITYHow about having two incompatible industries, such as mining vs. organic food production, flourishing in the same area? What contingency plans are in place to ensure that accidents in either industry does not negatively affect the other?A survey conducted in April 2002, tried to determine the industrial activity in each province in the Republic of Argentina. Some of the problems encountered were the following:

In all provinces, agriculture was the most important activity, very often accompanied by other industrial activity such as mining, petroleum, car manufacturing, plastic, leather tanneries, etc.
It is unclear whether federal or provincial legislation make any specific provisions to safeguard the special needs of food production as well as water and soil safety, in the event that there would be other, ‘non-compatible’ industrial activities in the immediate proximity to food production.
It is also unclear whether food producers and representatives from other industries have ever met to discuss their different needs and develop strategies to contain any potentially harmful situation that could arise from either activity.

On the other hand, due to consumer concerns regarding the negative environmental impact of food production, many food producers have already cleaned up their act and improved production methods. In fact, as the WTO accepts that environmental management programs do not distort trade per se, and so have included such programs in the famous green box, where no punitive tariffs are applied. CERTIFIABLE IMPROVEMENTSAs a result, many of the changes in the European Common Agricultural Policy are linked to performance and certifiable improvements. EU farmers now receive compensations as opposed to subsidies for complying with official policies on environmental management, a fact that soon will be used as an argument to protect the internal market from unfair competition from countries where there are neither controls nor added costs for the food producer.In the US too, environmental management has reached the top of the business agenda, together with animal welfare, and the industry itself is leading the way by developing and implementing environmental management programs, and to make it marketable, also offer prices for the companies that perform the best. These environmental stewardships and all the public attention to the issue, will ensure that exporting to the US market requires a clear and certifiable policy in this area.Now that the Kyoto agreement has been signed, ratified and put into action, regardless of its perceived weaknesses and limitations, and climatic changes are a fact, regardless of these were induced by human activities or not, the pressure will be on for industries to clean up their act and not transfer the cost of their inefficiency or unwillingness to improve production to the general public.* Hanne Martine Stabursvik, Norwegian veterinary surgeon working and living in Argentina. Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, UK. One of her specialties is the veterinary checks on imported products of animal origin in the EU. She teaches animal welfare at the Universidad del Salvador, facultad de medicina veterinaria and works with specialists in the field from all over the world. She is also a member of the Red Alimentaria.