Scotland Insight 2022 PRINT 15.3.22 - Flipbook - Page 8
CARBON: COULD LIVESTOCK
BE THE ANSWER?
The buzz word of the moment seems to be
“carbon” whether it is a discussion around
carbon emissions from agriculture, carbon audits
or carbon trading, it doesn’t appear to be going
anywhere fast.
What has become clear is that following COP26 there
will be huge pressure on businesses to reduce their
carbon footprint. This pressure on corporate companies,
such as supermarkets will likely also be passed down
the supply chain to farmers. Agriculture will likely face
its own set of regulations in line with the government’s
“Clean Air” agenda and these restrictions are likely to
come about much faster than we think. Currently UK
agriculture is responsible for approximately 10% of
the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions and is receiving
increasingly public scrutiny.
One argument is that a farmers key job is food
production, which is vital and that these emissions are
just a consequence of this. However, the move from
the government is very clear, they want farmers to play
an increasing role in protecting the environment. The
Australia trade deal also highlights that the government
appears happy to allow cheaper imports of food into
the UK to meet food demand.The Scottish Government
has now released its “Vison for Farming” which details
the steps the Government will take in preparing for new
policy from 2025. It is clear that much of the funding
farmers receive will require them to provide public goods
in the way of environmental benefits and reducing their
carbon footprint will be one of the key prorities.
But what about the environmental benefit farming
already provides in the shape of woodland, hedges
and grassland? Apparently 2 billion tonnes of carbon
are sequestrated in UK grassland soils. Something that
the UK agricultural industry should be shouting about,
but the public seems totally unaware. It may be a
small minority of the public, but they are a very loudly
shouting for livestock production to cease entirely. The
belief is that we should plough up large amounts of our
grassland to plant crops, but surely this would be more
detrimental to balancing UK carbon. As an industry we
need to gather the data to fight this argument.
Understanding your carbon
The first stop is understanding what carbon your business
is emitting and removing from the atmosphere and this
is done in the shape of a carbon audit. Carbon audits
are completed using various software programmes
8
where the data is inputted. It allows us to see how big
our own carbon footprint is and allows you to start to
consider whether there are any measures that could be
implemented now that would help and allow you to
prepare for the future. A few examples could include:
1.Increased forage legumes in grass mixes, leading to
longer grass leys and reduced use of nitrogen fertilisers
helping to encourage a better grass root structure.
2.Direct drilling to prevent disruption of the soil which
causes a release of carbon into the atmosphere.
3.Livestock feed which includes home produced protein
sources rather than imported soya.
And before we enter into the new exciting world of
carbon trading, we must be aware of how much carbon
we produce and whether we have any spare to trade. As
an industry my fear is that we trade all our carbon to
large companies and will be left in a position where we
are also required to offset our carbon, but the assets we
have available are tied up. The market is also so new for
carbon trading that no one knows the potential it could
reach, leasing or selling your assets now may not allow
you to realise the best price.
COULD AGRICULTURE
ACTUALLY HELP TO
CORRECT THE COURSE OF
CLIMATE CHANGE?
Could livestock be the solution?
Take it one step further and could agriculture actually
help to correct the course of climate change?
Regenerative agriculture could be one solution to fight
climate change. But regenerative agriculture needs
livestock to work. Take mob grazing as an example; cattle
are moved to paddocks where the grass is at a more
mature phase than when it is usually grazed. This extra
maturity allows additional carbon to have been taken
from the atmosphere. Cattle are grazed before being