Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE)
Abstract
Agricultural sectors in most advanced economies have come under severe criticism for lacking the characteristics of 'sustainability'. What is usually meant is that a combination of subsidies and modern farming methods is producing an economically and environmentally non-viable
agricultural sector. Using economic valuation techniques, and adjusting for prevailing subsidies, we seek to re-estimate the contribution that the agricultural sector made to the UK economy in the year 1998. The sector is markedly smaller if adjustments are made for subsidies. But these subsidies allow the sector to be a generator of both substantial environmental benefits, and also of extensive environmental damages
