§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research she has(a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on damage caused to the environment by animal agriculture. [164224]
§ Mr. MorleyThe information is as follows.
- (a)Defra has commissioned a wide range of studies on this topic. These programmes and their associated studies have been addressed by "pollutant" (eg greenhouse gas, ammonia, nitrate, phosphorus) rather than by farming sector (eg animal, arable). Full details of the numerous studies, both on-going and those completed in and after 1999, can be found on http://www2.defra.gov.uk/research/project_data/subject.asp?SCOPE=0. Most of this extensive research is listed under the policy areas "Environmental Protection (Agriculture)" and "Farmland Conservation". Some of the output of this research is summarised in National Inventories for Greenhouse Gases and Ammonia.
- (b)Defra R&D programmes are subjected to periodic review (usually triennial). In addition, individual studies are subject to an expanding programme of peer review. An economic evaluation of the nitrate R&D programme was published in 2002 and can be found at http://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/evaluation/nitrate/default.asp.