Two new reports from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Bangor, North Wales claim that up to 13 per cent of Europe’s wheat crop is being lost to air pollution created by vehicles and industry, this amounts to £3 billion worth of wheat a year. image expired

Dr Gina Mills, who worked on the reports, said ozone, a gas created by sunlight reacting with car vehicle exhausts and industrial emissions, was responsible for reductions in yield worldwide as levels of pollution mean ozone episodes are increasingly affecting crops.

CEH has an experimental site where the effects of air pollution are studied, ozone damage in particular, which are used for modelling and determining the impact pollution is having. Dr Mills said that in some of the UK’s principal agricultural regions, including East Anglia and Central England, ozone concentrations are high enough to bring yields down by 5-10 per cent and cause damage to crops.

She said, "Crops that we see out in the fields, such as wheat and potato suffer damage; the farmer won’t be able to see the damage, because there are no visible symptoms, but the plants won’t grow as well."

She continued that the CEH’s findings had global implications, "This is a global problem. In the UK we may be able to cope with a few percentage loss, but in developing areas the impacts could be quite serious."

CEH research suggests some pesticides may offer protection against ozone damage and some varieties of crop have proven more resistant that others. Measures can also be taken to mitigate damage; for example, the centre recommends salad leaf growers withhold water for a few days before an ozone episode, to close up pores on leaves, which reduces the effects.

The CEH scientists have called for more research into methods of protecting crops, finding out more about polluting ozone, levels of which are increasing, and methods to reduce pollution.

However, the problem is a pressing one; Dr Mills concluded, "As we have more cars on the road, and more industry, the level of pollution rises, even though we have been trying to reduce pollution with catalytic converters, the sheer number of cars on the road means pollution remains of great concern." 

The two reports can be read on the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology website here.