Islanders out to reduce their carbon footprint

A group of farmers is working to develop a blueprint for Scottish agriculture to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

The farmers on the Isle of Arran are working together, as part of a Soil Association Scotlandled Rural Innovation Support Service (Riss) project, to try to reduce their carbon footprint.

They are using a tool developed by SAC Consulting, named AgreCalc, which measures and benchmarks a farm’s methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions.

It also measures how much carbon a farm is sequestering.

Alexander Pirie from SAC Consulting, who is leading the Net Zero Arran project, said: “My hope is we can reduce the carbon footprint of the island if we can quantify it and that by identifying common areas for improvement, we can take a collaborative approach.

“By tackling issues around farm efficiency and best practice as well as the environment and climate change, with an emphasis on building strong local community engagement, Arran could contribute in some small way to the solution for Scotland as a whole.”

He said the project was drawing on data from various sources including the Beef Efficiency Scheme, and farmers were in the process of collectively doing things to reduce their emissions.

The Net Zero Arran project will be discussed in a virtual workshop later this month, along with a project to bring commercial apple growing back to Scotland.

The free workshop, which is called Futureproof your Farm: How to adapt your farm business to the Covid-19 and climate change crises, takes place on Wednesday May 20, from 9.30-11.30am.