Carbon calculator helps smallholder farmers

Vanessa Barends is an agricultural specialist from the Overberg town of Bredasdorp who, at the age of 30, has invented a carbon footprint calculator to help smallscale farms determine their effect on the environment.

The tool will measure entity-level carbon emissions on a farm, and help farmers identify carbon hotspots on their property as well as their possible carbon tax obligations.

Life has not been smooth sailing for Barends, but her modest background has never been an obstacle.

Barends is determined to be a role model and pave the way for future young women from rural areas.

After matric, she started an internship with the provincial Department of Agriculture. Then, a bursary allowed her to pursue a Business Science degree in agricultural economics at Stellenbosch University.

Barends then enrolled in the Western Cape government's Young Professional Persons Programme, which helps black postgraduates develop their careers. This allowed her to complete her Master's degree. Her dissertation focused on the carbon footprint of farming activities.

Breaking new ground

Today Barends is an agricultural economist at the Western Cape Department of Agriculture. Her innovative idea is drawing the sector's attention.

Phase one entailed developing the prototype, with the help of a service provider, and completing the draft specifications for adapting the prototype to be more user-friendly. Users only need to fill in annual consumption numbers in the different categories, being shielded from complicated formulas and data.

“I am working on ways where data can be captured on a monthly basis so it's just easier for the farmer to export the data to the Excel tool. When the user is done with slotting in the data, the user can press ‘submit' and an automatic two-page report will be generated.”

The report will not be verified and accredited for the first phase. This will only happen if verification and accreditation are necessary, and if there is a service provider willing to take over the calculator, she said.

Carbon footprint

“The purpose of this tool is firstly to be used as a guidance tool to direct the Western Cape Department of Agriculture in assisting smallholder farmers with their carbon footprint and also to act as a guidance tool to industry in constructing a more formal carbon calculator for smallholder mixed farming systems,” she stressed.

The tool will also help farming communities to hedge themselves against the proposed carbon tax and provide them with much needed information to plan for more efficient farming activities and reduced costs.

An added benefit is that the information generated by the calculator can help smallholder farmers identify and reduce emission factors that are prohibiting them from complying with both international and larger retailer "green" standards.

Making her mark in a largely maledominated sector, Barends said her life's mission is to always make a difference.

“My passion and love for agriculture, the environment and people is the sphere that I want to be in.

“It's the sphere where I see myself growing and contributing.”