Industry leaders pledge to help cut emissions
As one of the industries at the sharp end of climate change, farming leaders have promised the sector will do its bit to reduce carbon emissions.
Following the launch of the Scottish Government’s targets for emissions reductions – including a proposal to make the country the first in the world to cut these by 100 per cent – NFU Scotland said that agriculture was constantly striving to produce more with less.
The union’s president, Andrew Mccornick said that with Scotland’s farmers standing in the front line in experiencing the impacts of shifting weather patterns caused by climate change, these effects impacted directly on their ability to produce food.
But he said that as farming was a biological process, zero emissions from production were not possible – but producers were adopting a whole range of emission mitigating and carbon offsetting procedures and technologies which should be factored into the equation.
A few examples of the measures being adopted by the industry included peatlands management, testing of soils, the expansion in precision farming, and planting of agro-forestry – “as well as uptake of schemes such as ‘Farming for a Better Climate’ and the Beef Efficiency Scheme,” said Mccornick.
He said that it was the view of NFUS that any carbon accounting scheme should give credit to these progressive practices .
“The Scottish Government’s Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) Bill set out ambitious new targets which will challenge both individuals and industry. Like other industries that will also need to step up, we are determined to play our part.”
He said a progressive Scottish agricultural industry would be one which met consumers’ needs and environmental ambitions whilst also becoming more profitable and productive:
“It is right and proper that Scottish agriculture shows willingness to play its part and NFUS is committed to playing a positive role in that effort.”
While the clean air strategy released by Defra earlier this week which included several measures to be taken by the farming industry- such as reducing ammonia emissions and controls on the use of urea fertilisers - will apply south of the Border, Scotland will have its own measures and farming will be centre stage here too.
A spokesperson yesterday said that the Scottish Government already had its own ambitious air quality strategy setting out a series of 40 actions to deliver further improvements to air quality.