A long list of challenges are directly related to the weather
AS farmers, everything we do and what influences us revolves around the weather, which is of course dictated by the seasons and the climate; whether we gather enough fodder in the summer to feed our animals over the winter; how long our animals have to be fed that fodder; what diseases our animals and crops are exposed to and a long list of other challenges are directly related to the weather, the seasons and the climate.
Such points were made clear when we met with the UK’s High-Level Climate Action Champion, Nigel Topping, at a joint round table meeting last week arranged by the FUW and NFU Cymru to discuss climate change and the “Race to Zero” campaign, an international campaign for a healthy, resilient zero carbon recovery.
I know there are many who are still sceptical about the existence of climate change, and they have every right to their view - after all, when many of us started farming we were being told that we were on the verge of a new ice age.
But, putting the FUW’s insurance broker’s hat on, I would ‘say can you afford the risk of being wrong?’
It is a fact that Carbon
Dioxide levels have risen rapidly since the industrial revolution to reach what are now the highest levels for 800,000 years. And we know that the 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998. Nine of these have occurred in the past 15 years.
In light of such evidence we cannot afford to gamble on the world’s scientists being wrong, when losing the bet means the end of the world as we know it – impacts of Biblical proportions: Crop failures, famines, the loss of vast areas of farmland and communities to rising seas, mass migrations and war to name just a few.
And of course, whether we believe it or not, climate change is 100% a political reality that will drive policies and political agendas across the globe for decades to come.
The FUW has consistently recognised the threat represented by climate change and the need to take action, in manifestos and policy documents published over the past twenty years, and I am proud of the fact that our farmers have been instrumental in helping achieve a more than five-fold increase in renewable energy production in the past 15 years.
A myth regularly perpetuated by those with other motives and agendas is that our industry is amongst the worst culprits in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, despite agriculture being responsible for emissions that are a fraction of what transport, energy or other sectors produce.
And it’s notable that even if the population of the UK were magically able to stop eating altogether, and all our farms disappeared, 90% of the UK’s greenhouse gas would continue to be produced.
However, like every other industry, we have a responsibility to work hard to reduce our footprint and mitigate climate change, and we are rising to that challenge and must work with others to do that.
But to rise to this challenge together we need to remove obstacles in a way which enhances our farm businesses and productive capacity, not destroys it.
And we must avoid at all costs perceived silver bullets and policies which undermine the businesses and the families which are the backbone of our rural agricultural communities.