Integrated cost benefit analysis of agricultural diffuse pollution control

摘要

A framework has been constructed to enable the calculation of diffuse agricultural pollution loads to air and water at national scale, and which allows an assessment of the impact of mitigation methods upon the pollutant loads to aid development of Government policy. The results in this paper show that the impact of changes in livestock and farming between 2004 and 2020 is a predicted reduction in pollution loads of up to 10% across England and Wales. Through widespread adoption of mitigation methods, significant reductions in pollution may be possible (25% for nitrous oxide; 35% for nitrate; 50% for ammonia and phosphorus), and at a cost that is comparable to the monetary value of the environmental benefits of the reduced pollution. However, widespread adoption of some of the methods considered would be met with justifiable resistance from the farming community.