WEATHER MATTERS

Farmers are notorious for complaining about the weather. This is because we can be heavily affected by situations we have no influence over. Something as simple as a few weeks of prolonged drought or rain can easily be the difference between profit and loss.

Changes in seasonal weather patterns and the increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events is a risk for food production – both for Ingleby as well as global food production. Adapting to a changing climate is becoming increasingly important.

Farming is partly responsible for rising greenhouse gas emissions, but farmers can also be a key part of the solution to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases trapped in the atmosphere.

Minimising tillage, expanding crop rotations, planting cover crops and reintegrating livestock into crop production will reduce our climate footprint as well as help capture excess carbon generated by other industries.

This captured carbon can then be converted to plant material and soil organic matter, improving soil health and increasing our ability to produce food.

GREENHOUSE GAS

Modern agriculture, food production and distribution are major contributors of greenhouse gases. Agriculture is directly responsible for 14% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Much of this is attributed to use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, intensive livestock production and soil disturbance.

We only graze our livestock free-range on healthy pastures. We never clear vegetation to create pastures. Instead, we plant trees and bushes that store carbon. We also build soil carbon through minimum-till and no-till practices, ploughing less than 5% of our land.

In 2018/19 we emitted 40,631 tonnes of CO2 equivalent across all our farms. This equals 0.5 tonnes of CO2/ha or 6.2 tonnes produced per tonne of CO2.

We monitor and calculate our CO2 emissions from our use of electricity, diesel, gasoline, propane and natural gas. We also include emissions from agricultural inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides. Currently, we do not measure biological sources from our livestock or ploughing. Nor do we include carbon sinks such as our forests, plantations and natural grasslands. But from peer-reviewed studies we know, that greenhouse gas emissions from grass-fed livestock systems are lower than in feedlot systems.

GOAL 13 // CLIMATE ACTION

As farmers, we are dependent on the weather for the optimal growth of our crops and pastures. We take several actions to help combat climate change and mitigate its effects. Our overall goal is to become climate positive by 2030.

We maintain fertile and well-structured soils with optimum amounts of air, water, nutrients and biological activity. Healthy soils sequester carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

We use a variety of crops and cover crops. It is crucial that our soils are always covered by some sort of green cover.

We only raise free-range and pasture-fed livestock. We also increasingly integrate livestock into our crop production.

We constantly optimise our resource use. We want to improve our energy efficiency as well as fertiliser and water use efficiency, thus reducing our carbon footprint.

MITIGATING CLIMATE CHANGE

On each farm we monitor weather conditions, to help analyse and deal with the changing and highly variable climate on a daily basis, but also in the long term.

We mitigate the effects of changes in climate through increasing investments in erosion control measures as well as irrigation and drainage to mitigate the effect of dry and wet years.

We also address climate change through more robust, diversified crop rotations, as well as diversification over regions and productions. Our in-house world production knowledge gives us several options to change productions from one hub to another, even over countries.

We will most likely see radical changes in the crops we grow and our production patterns. So diversification and the ability to adapt are vital elements in mitigating the effects of climate change.

TONNES CO2 EMITTED BY PRODUCTION

6% 1% 9%

6%

17%

DAIRY

HORTICULTURE

ROW CROPS

SHEEP & CATTLE

PROCESSING

OTHER

61%

GJ

45,000

30,000

CO2 EMISSIONS

15,000

0