Farmers will use bigger hedges, healthier livestock and more precise pesticides to cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2040, union says
- National Farmers’ Union has published a report on how it thinks it can be done
- British farms are responsible for around a 10th of UK greenhouse gas emissions
- Agricultural emissions have fallen 16 per cent since 1990, but slowed since 2011
The National Farmers’ Union has has published a report on how the sector can reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 – a decade ahead of the UK economy.
It aims to reduce emissions from farming practices, increase the ability of land to store more carbon, and focus on renewable products that remove carbon from the atmosphere.
British farms are responsible for around a tenth of UK greenhouse gas emissions, but only 10 per cent of their output is carbon dioxide.
Meanwhile, 40 per cent is nitrous oxide from things such as fertilisers, and half is methane from cows and sheep.
Agricultural emissions have fallen by 16 per cent overall since 1990, but there has been only ‘modest progress’ since 2011, the report says.
British farms are responsible for around a tenth of UK greenhouse gas emissions, but only 10 per cent of its output is carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, 40 per cent is nitrous oxide from things such as fertilisers, and half is methane from cows and sheep
Farm businesses can make an important contribution to the UK’s legally binding target to cut its climate emissions to zero, and over the next 20 years work could reduce, offset and balance out the 45.6 million tonnes of emissions agriculture is responsible for, the NFU said.
Efforts to cut on-farm emissions could include improving health in cattle and sheep to reduce methane emissions.
Precision farming for crops to deliver nutrients and pesticides more efficiently, and reducing soil compaction to cut the need for cultivation and minimise nitrogen emissions were also included in the report.
Efforts to cut on-farm emissions could include improving health in cattle to reduce methane emissions, precision farming for crops to deliver nutrients and pesticides more efficiently, and reducing soil compaction to minimise nitrogen emissions.
Ways farms can store more carbon on the land include providing bigger hedgerows, more woodland and boosting the carbon storage of soils, including wetland restoration.
Farmers can also contribute by supporting renewables, including energy from plant materials combined with technology to capture the emissions when it is burned for power.
Novel plant-based building and insulation materials such as hemp fibre and sheep’s wool could also help lock up carbon from the atmosphere.
Land could be used to store carbon which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere.
Bigger hedgerows, more woodland and trees, and maintaining soils including peatland and wetland could help with this.
Farmers can also contribute by supporting renewables, including energy from plant materials combined with technology to capture the emissions when it is burned for power.
Novel plant-based building and insulation materials such as hemp fibre and sheep’s wool could also help lock up carbon from the atmosphere, the report said.
Much of the focus on cutting emissions from food production has been on reducing meat and dairy, but the NFU said the carbon footprint of British red meat was only 40 per cent of world averages and it was important not to export the problem by shifting production to other countries.
NFU president Minette Batters said: ‘There is no doubt that climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time and rising rapidly on the political agenda both at home and globally.
‘Representing British farming, we recognise our unique position as both a source and a store for greenhouse gas emissions and, importantly, how we can build on our work so far to deliver climate-neutral farming in the next 20 years.
‘We aspire to be producing the most climate-friendly food in the world.
Agricultural emissions have fallen by 16 per cent overall since 1990, but there has been only ‘modest progress’ since 2011, the report says
‘We must avoid anything that undermines UK food production and merely exports our greenhouse gas emissions to other parts of the world.’
Ms Batters said work on her own Wiltshire beef, sheep and arable farm included improving grazing pasture with more clover and herbal mixes to fix nitrogen and use less fertiliser, and GPS technology was helping precision farming.
As the Government moves to replace the existing system of EU subsidies with payments that reward environmental ‘goods’, the NFU is calling for support for improving productivity, enhancing hedgerows, planting trees, restoring peatland and backing for land-based renewables and new building materials.
WHEN DID HUMANS START FARMING?
It is widely known that farming and the development of agricultural skills allowed humans to move from being hunter-gatherers to a functioning society.
Many tools have been found dating back thousands of years but the earliest recorded evidence of the changeover may have been founding Turkey.
Urine sample analysis found a boom in population numbers and density 10,000 years ago.
The oldest layers at the site that had any evidence of human habitation date back 10,400 years.
For 40 years only a slight increase in urine concentration was detected before a sudden spike lasting for 300 years, the researchers detected.
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