Vet nutritionist to help farmers with climate change challenge

A VET nutritionist has joined Mole Valley Farmers in a new role which has been specifically designed to help farmers navigate the climate change challenges ahead.

Duncan Williams, who over the last decade has worked in the UK, US, New Zealand and China, will assist farmers in establishing their farm’s carbon footprint, benchmark performance and provide a farmspecific roadmap to help them on the journey towards becoming net zero. He’ll also look at ways to increase farm business resilience to reduce exposure to the impacts of climate change.

Mr Williams’ new role is a further extension of Mole Valley Farmers’ ‘Climate Positive Agriculture’ scheme and highlights the South Molton-based company’s ongoing commitment to helping South West farmers understand and lower their environmental impact.

He said: “Climate change seems a very specific issue around emissions, but its bigger than that. How do we reduce our impact and also deal with risk management in terms of coping with drier and wetter conditions? That’s where business resilience comes in.”

Undertaking a masters degree in in sustainability at Exeter University and a Nuffield Farming scholarship on sustainable use of antibiotics, Mr Williams says he is passionate about creating sustainable farming systems - something which puts him in good stead to help Mole Valley Farmers’ farmer shareholders improve their business productivity, profitability and sustainability. He concluded: “When we make an investment, it’s important to ask how it can reduce carbon emissions ... We don’t want to lock ourselves into high carbon systems without meaning to.”

Duncan can be contacted on 07977 054328 or duncan.williams@ molecarefarmvets.com