Farms should be built with ‘hemp concrete’ to cut carbon

BUILDINGS on farms should be made of “hempcrete” with sheep wool insulation to cut carbon emissions, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has said.

The NFU wants the farming sector to be carbon neutral by 2040, a decade ahead of the UK economy as a whole, and has researched ways to achieve this.

Agricultural emissions have fallen by 16 per cent overall since 1990, but there has been only “modest progress” since 2011, the report says.

One carbon-cutting method would be to make structures in farms out of natural materials, with hemp being a good example, as growing the plant captures carbon from the atmosphere.

“Hempcrete” is a concrete-like material made of hydraulic lime and hemp hurds – a wooden by-product created when the plant is processed. It is used for construction and insulation.

Other ideas include making farms “plant powered” by using biofuel methods to produce methane and generate electricity.

The organisation also says farmers should improve the health of cattle and sheep to reduce methane emissions. Carbon storage is also an important way to cut down on a farm’s carbon footprint, and ways this can be achieved include providing bigger hedgerows, more woodland and trees, and boosting the carbon storage of soils.

Minette Batters, the NFU president, said: “Representing British farming, we recognise our unique position as both a source and a store for greenhouse gas emissions and, importantly, how we can build on our work so far to deliver climate-neutral farming.

“We aspire to be producing the most climate-friendly food in the world. We must avoid anything that undermines UK food production and merely exports our greenhouse gas emissions to other parts of the world.”

Ms Batters said work on her own Wiltshire beef, sheep and arable farm included improving grazing pasture with more clover and herbal mixes to fix nitrogen and using less fertiliser.

British farms are responsible for about a 10th of UK greenhouse gas emissions. But of this, only 10 per cent is carbon dioxide, while 40 per cent is nitrous oxide from sources such as fertilisers, and 50 per cent is methane from cows and sheep.