Measuring for a clean and green farming climate
Supp or t for carr ying out c a r b o n a u d i t s a n d s o i l health checks to set individual and national baselines is likely to form the first phase of Scottish agriculture’s move to new supp or t measures based on achieving climate change and environmental goals.
Sp eaking to The S cotsman, rural economy cabinet secretary, Fergus Ewing said that the data collecting would be followed by a second phase to bring into operation the “transformative ideas” for the sector which are being drawn up to encourage greener, climate friendly production methods.
A n d w i t h t h e S u c k l e r Beef Climate Group report already completed, he said a programme board was being set up to transform t h e r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s into a practical, deliverable scheme, with a final report to be completed by February.
T h e b o a r d w i l l b e c o - chaired by Ewing and Dumfriesshire farmer, Jim Walker and will include farmers Claire Simonetta and Pat Lambert, as well as NFUS chief executive Scott Walker, Andy Mcgowan from the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers and Neil Wilson from the Institute of Auctioneers and Appraisers in Scotland (IASS), Tim Bailey of SAOS and Bob Yuill from SCOTEID and representatives from Nature Scot, SRUC, QMS and rural payment officials.
Ew i n g a l s o t h a n ke d L a u - rencekirk farmer, Andrew Moir for taking on the chairmanship of the arable group to indentify measures to allow the cropping sectors to contribute to climate change targets.
Both moves were welcomed by NFU Scotland chief executive Scott Walker who, as member of the programme board looks forward to getting schemes up and running.
“A scheme designed for Scotland in Scotland has the opportunity to be user friendly for farmer and government,” said Walker.
“We have a n o p p o r t u n i t y to break with what has gone before and put in place a progressive scheme using b est practice to remove bureaucratic burden.
"Let’s make this the most cost effective scheme to run and delivering the greatest benefit to farmers.”
He said ever y sector of Scottish agriculture had a role to play in meeting climate change expectations, but warned that cutting production should never be seen as the answer.
“Emissions reductions can be achieved alongside growing our industry and should be viewed as an opportunity to enhance business performance rather than being seen as an extra cost to the business.”
A wider recognition of the role which carbon audits can play across the UK was revealed with theannouncement of a project to benchmark 40 farms from across the UK which are involved in the strategic and monitor farm initiatives.
The AHDB project will also identify where changes can be made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in both economic and environmental savings.
“Implementing changes on-farm can sometimes be a challenge and concerns are often raised about the cost implications and wider impacts on productivity,” said the AHDB’S Tim Isaacs.
“However, evidence generally points towards ‘better for the environment equals b etter for businesses, so there are potentially benefits to be had all around,” he added.