Killing of the Countryside

by Graham Harvey

Over then past fifty years the British countryside has changed out of all recognition. A wide range of wildlife species are disappearing - victims of modern intensive farming, of pesticides and fertilisers and the sheer relentless pressure to maximise output from every hedge bank and field corner. It need not have happened. The loss of our wildlife and countryside has come about through a deliberate and sustained national policy, one that costs the British people 8 billion a year.The Killing of the Countryside is a devastating attack on modern British agricultural policy and practice and a plea for a return to natural cycles, an end to subsidies and the domination of agribusiness, and for a safe, sustainable farming system.Winner of the 1997 BP Natural World Book Award.

Genres: Nonfiction, Ecology

224 pages, Paperback

First published March 10, 1997

Reviews

[Nick Davies · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was thankfully a relatively quick read, mainly because it quickly became obvious that Harvey was just saying the same thing again and again.

It's difficult to feel particularly impressed with this. Though I agree with a large amount of what the author says here - biodiversity is important, there have been mismanagements in agricultural policy, the wild countryside has a great value - I just felt that Harvey failed to convince. I found his repeated appeals to emotion and romance (where nicely described natural habitats, colourful birds and pretty flowers, idyllic Beatrix Potter little animals was then contrasted with horrible crop spraying tractors driven by evil businessman farmers) to be lacking in logical argument and justification.

Like when I read (the superior) 'Silent Spring' by Rachel Carson, I just felt that the author was writing for the easily convinced or the already convinced. Here I wanted more of a quantitative balancing of 'biodiversity has a value of X, the economics and modern conveniences of British society has a value of Y' and a reasoned discussion of where the equilibrium should lie, and how to get there. What I got was a dumbed-down and slightly scandalised repetition of twenty pages of core arguments that businesses want to make money and that he wishes we were back in the pre Industrial Revolution era.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling and informative indictment of the subsidy system in the UK and how this impacts rural communities and the countryside in general. The major fault with this book is the lack of an alternative to the current system despite highlighting where the system has and still is going wrong and how this could've been avoided. Harvey could've sacrificed some of his more repeatative points and included his thoughts or ideas on what can replace this system and how it could work, even if it was just a broad set of ideas it would've been better than nothing.

[Drew Pyke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this book 5 stars because of how informative it is whilst still easily readable. Essentially it looks at how the post war policy to increase the supply of food by subsidies based on output created an economic incentive for pesticides, herbicides, monocultures and chemicals which will increase yields. The old ways of crop rotation and laying fallow fields for regrowth end up less attractive compared to the commodinisation of food with dire consequences for the wildlife and local farming community. Very clearly written book as well as galvanizing