Farmers locked in food production vs. pollution trade-off

Agriculture remains a major threat to water quality in Europe, according to the latest report by the European Union’s environmental agency. But farmers and EU policymakers are also quick to highlight the trade-off between conservation objectives and pressure to increase food production.

At a time when other sources of pollution have cleaned up their act, the European Union’s environmental watchdog reports that intensive farming practices are contributing to “significant loads of pollutants” in surface water.