Footprints on the farm

Earlier this year, I visited the Biogen anaerobic digestion plant at a farm in Milton Ernest, Bedfordshire. It processes 12,000 tonnes of pig slurry and 30,000 tonnes of food waste a year, to produce biogas. This mixture of methane and other gases runs a generator with an electrical output that’s enough to power 600-800 homes. And the digestate from the plant is used as biofertiliser on the farm.

It is innovative examples like this that are essential in achieving a sustainable food chain and a profitable farming sector. Within the UK, agriculture emits over a third of our methane emissions and over two-thirds of our nitrous oxide emissions. Both these are much more potent greenhouse gases per molecule than carbon dioxide (CO2), so action by farmers to reduce them can make a vital contribution to tackling climate change. Livestock and arable farming have a role to play, for instance, by using less nitrogen fertiliser and adopting precision farming techniques, or by providing animals with diets that specifically match their nutrient requirements [see ‘Reaping the rewards’]. As well as reducing these direct emissions, farmers can protect and manage forests and soils as carbon stores, produce energy and industrial crops to replace fossil fuels, and generate biogas from manure and slurry.

Carrots, not sticks
While there are many such positive examples that demonstrate how farmers can be part of the solution, the industry needs to go further. You may rightly ask ‘how?’. A great deal is already known about changes in practice that can help, and Defra has a big programme of research on the subject. We now need to get better at turning the conclusions from this work into practical advice.

This is a priority for the Rural Climate Change Forum, our main advisory body on land management and climate change issues. Of course, government needs to put in place a supportive policy framework as well, to get the incentives right. For example, recent research tells us that agri-environment schemes have an overall positive impact on greenhouse gas emissions, but how should we develop additional measures to include climate change mitigation and adaptation? And do we need some form of regulated trading scheme for emissions reductions from land management activities?

While the effects of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions now will not begin to show for many years, even decades, we do know that farmers are already feeling the impact [see the ‘Catching on to climate change’ box]. They need to take action today to adapt to changing temperatures and seasonal rainfall, more frequent extreme weather events and the increased risk of pests and diseases. There are support tools available – for example, the Defra-funded UK Climate Impacts Programme (www.ukcip.org.uk) produces climate change scenarios and advice on adaptation. Just as land management is a key part of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it also has a central role to play in helping society as a whole adapt to the impacts of climate change. As we’ve seen with the floods in July, we need to recognise fully the ecosystem services that farming can provide, including flood prevention.

“While climate change poses threats to farming and food production, it also offers business opportunities.”

While climate change poses threats to farming and food production, it also offers business opportunities. I know some farmers in the south of the country are already growing new crops. Other producers are recognising the commercial benefits of differentiating their products in a world where consumers are more aware of the environmental impacts of the food they buy, and where major supermarkets are looking to improve their green credentials.

To support these efforts, Defra and the Carbon Trust are co-sponsoring a project with the British Standards Institute to develop a standard for assessing the embedded greenhouse gas emissions – associated with production, processing and transport – for all products and services. We are also working with stakeholders to explore how we might best support the development of a clearer ‘green standard’ for agriculture to encompass its full environmental footprint.

But – as with the challenge of climate change in society as a whole – we can only tackle the issue if we have full engagement from the farming industry. I very much welcome the leadership that organisations such as the National Farmers’ Union, the Country Land and Business Association and the Applied Research Forum are demonstrating, including through the Farming Futures project, which has made good progress in raising awareness of climate change issues and helping farmers understand what they can do. But the work is only just beginning.

11 October 2007