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All-change on climate change
Climate response
Climate change will remodel UK agriculture and the countryside. The fourth
Farmers Club/ British Crop Production Council seminar investigated the challenges and opportunities – must be Bill, Clean Growth Strategy and National Food part of the solution, integrating responses with biodiversity and nature is ‘very important’. “Adapting to this climate crisis in a fast-changing world, and being able to protect and enhance our environment, whilst at the same time producing food healthily and sustainably, is really important. “This means de-carbonising while using nature-based solutions and promoting biodiversity, for example, trees planted alongside farmland
Prof Steven Penfield
Dr Ceris Jones
Ross Newham Stephen Howe
Environment Minister Rebecca Pow MP.
FARMING can adapt to climate change, and be a big part of the solution, if it proactively pursues a balanced approach, delegates heard at a key on-line seminar organised by The Farmers Club and the British Crop Production Council, chaired by BCPC’s Stephen Howe.
Defra twin-track
Whilst Government recognised farming was especially vulnerable to what is now inevitable climate change, farmers needed to play their part in responding to the challenge, and there is ‘much more to do’ , insisted Defra Under Secretary of State Rebecca Pow, via video link.
Government will take strong action on climate change, through the Agriculture Bill, Environment Strategy (Part 2). So, whilst technological fixes are
Rebecca Pow MP to sequester carbon to offer benefits for flood management, soil stability, biodiversity and recreation, making farming livelihoods more diversified and resilient,” she suggested.
The Environmental Land Management scheme would be the ‘cornerstone’ of agricultural policy, paying farmers to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and sequester carbon. Benchmarking and carbon accounting tools could help pinpoint emissions on individual farms.
She noted that 570,000ha of the best and most versatile land was currently at considerable risk of flood-related damage. That was expected to rise to 750,000ha if temperatures rise by 2°C, and 940,000ha if they rise by 4°C.
Net Zero achievable
Net Zero agriculture emissions can be hit by 2040 – a full decade ahead of the Government’s national target – if a three-strand approach is pursued, countered NFU Climate Change Adviser Dr Ceris Jones.
The journey had only just begun, and was an industry-wide effort, which may not mean every farm could hit the goal, she noted. And while the Environmental Land Management scheme could help, it was not enough on its own.
Farming’s contribution would hinge around balancing reduced emissions with an almost unique ability to take carbon out of the atmosphere. Three main areas are involved:
• boosting productivity and reducing emissions • carbon sequestration • renewable energy and bioeconomy.
Productivity growth is vital, using improved plant and animal genetics, better farm business structures, precision farming techniques and more energy-efficient equipment. It will help meet food demand, climate change and environmental goals, and sustain farm businesses – and can be pursued by every farmer.
Whilst a clear farm-level carbon market has yet to emerge, global initiatives and trading platforms are emerging, especially in large markets, such as the USA and Australia. The challenge is to start measuring carbon footprints and storage, so benefits can be demonstrated when opportunities arise.
On bioenergy 40% of farmers had already invested in on-farm renewable energy projects, including anaerobic digesters, solar panels and wind power. More opportunities can be expected.
Horticulture leads
Horticulture shows how helpful productivity gains can be – producing more food using fewer resources, explained Ross Newham, Operations Director at Niab East Malling Research.
It currently accounts for a quarter of the value of plant-based agriculture in the UK but utilises just 3% of the country’s land. “Sustainable intensification frees up land to lock-up carbon, cut flood risk and create habitats.”
GREEN AMMONIA
Fertiliser manufacturers are investing heavily in carbon neutral production in a bid to hit climate neutrality by 2050, said Mark Tucker, Business Development Manager & Head of Agronomy at Yara UK. The current Haber Bosch process uses huge amounts of energy, so is a big contributor to greenhouse gases. Yara’s initial target is to achieve a 10% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions per tonne of fertiliser by 2025. Longer-term a switch to electrolysis could help deliver zero-carbon ammonia, or so-called ‘green nitrogen’. But the financial investment required is huge. How such costs are passed through farmers and the supply chain to the public is a big issue.
Meanwhile, farmers should enhance nitrogen use efficiency, using technology to guide
A century ago, apples typically yielded 4-8t/ ha, now they can yield 40-80t/ha. Cucumbers can produce as much as 980t/ha. The UK strawberry season once lasted six weeks, now it is more than 10 months.
Closed systems that take complete control of the cropping environment enable huge increases in output, thanks to big efficiency gains, keeping energy and warmth circulating within units, for example, he noted.
More fruit and vegetables in diets will also cut the cost of obesity to society – currently estimated at £27 billion/year.
Crop adaptation
Increasingly variable weather poses more challenge for UK farmers than warming alone, so finding resilient plant varieties is key, said Prof Steven Penfield, Group Leader, Genes in the Environment at the John Innes Centre, Norwich.
Whilst all UK regions will become warmer, meteorologists forecast more variable weather too, including more winter rain, less in summer (although summer rainstorms may be much heavier), more extreme flooding, and fewer autumn and winter frosts.
On the upside a longer growing season could bring big benefits, especially in horticulture and soft fruit, reducing reliance on imports. Grass could benefit too, although restricted growth and crop failures could become more frequent in southern England and East Anglia.
Simply bringing varieties in from warmer regions, such as Portugal, is not the answer. “But we could take such varieties and combine them with varieties we know work well here – and that is exactly what
NFU Climate Change Adviser Dr Ceris Jones.
SEMINAR REPORT
Full proceedings can be found at:
www.bcpc.org/ news-opinion/ latest-news
breeders will be looking to do.” Mark Tucker
application rates. Check country of origin too, since European products typically carry a far smaller carbon footprint than similar products from coal-based systems in China and Russia. Fertilisers produced using abatement technology to cut nitrous oxide emissions also help.
