ALAN WEST SHEEP TOPICS
CLIMATE CHANGE AND RESILIENCE
28
The UK is officially warmer, sunnier, wetter. oxide and methane in particular. The precise level Sounds ideal for agriculture, but sadly it is the of that contribution is highly debatable and the ALAN WEST way in which this warmer, wetter and sunnier latter has been largely overstated by those with Sheep farmer will be delivered that generates the problem. their own agenda to pursue. Rather than generally being a bit warmer, a We are, as an industry, a relatively soft target, bit wetter and a bit sunnier, nicely spread over although we do have the benefit of a growing the year, delivery will frequently be via some desire from the general public to understand rather more extreme weather events. I’m sure there are producers in some of our problems, and rather than focusing on where blame lies we the South East who consider, after a run of hot dry summers, that this should be looking forward and exploring opportunities to enable us to make season’s weather represents a return to normality (whatever that is). contributions to solving the problem. Sadly, when one considers weather events around the rest of the UK Firstly, we need to dispel the myth that we don’t need ruminant livestock and globally, I suspect that what we are seeing is simply a blip in the as part of our agricultural systems; the increase in external pressure to limit transition towards increasingly hot and dry summers. the range and quantities of artificial chemicals employed within the wider A Met Office study report is predicting that we will, within the next agricultural sector has in reality enhanced the role of grazing (ruminant) decade, be experiencing in some parts of the UK prolonged spells of summer livestock within a balanced agri-ecosystem. We must not, however, fall into temperatures in excess of 40°C. The prolonged spells of temperatures the trap of complacency. Sheep producers still have a function to fulfill as in excess of 30°C that we have experienced over the past few years have producers of quality sheep meat and as contributors to both the reduction of presented significant challenges to both people and livestock (cattle more greenhouse gas emissions and the sequestration of carbon. Moving forward, so than sheep); temperatures of 40°C and above are a completely different sheep producers need to recognise the need to build into their production proposition and represent significantly greater challenges. systems resilience to the seemingly unrelated areas of social, environmental, There are many out there who still seek to deny climate change, but the financial and climate challenges. increasing number and severity of extreme weather events would seem to be Developing resilience is important to individual sheep enterprises, the a strong indication to the contrary. Evidence from the UK alone would indicate sheep sector as a whole and to the climate change debate. The level of this to be the case; we may have had a relatively wet and warm spring and resilience to external challenges of whatever complexion does tend to have early summer in the South East, but in some parts of the North of England an inverse relationship to both specialisation and intensification; closely and Scotland the reverse has been the case, with an uncharacteristically dry integrated mixed farming systems in general having a greater inherent level spring. Just last week (WC 19 July) record temperatures were recorded in of resilience. Some may argue that they are possibly the least financially Northern Ireland and this week (25 July) parts of London suffered flooding as resilient. This may be partially true in the short term, but longer term this a result of more than 50mm (close to two inches) of rainfall in a single storm. argument is not so persuasive. Looking further afield supports this view: record floods in Germany, The level of resilience that may be developed within a system is largely Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy; temperature records smashed in NW a factor of mitigation and adaptability. There is little that we can do, in the USA and Canada (records broken by almost 5°C); flooding in California; above short term, to mitigate climate changes, but there is a lot that we are able to average winter temperatures and severe flooding in May, June and July in contribute to the long term situation. parts of New Zealand; record summer temperatures in Siberia and the Arctic; There are, however, steps that we can take to mitigate some of the the list goes on. impacts, ensuring that sheep always have access to adequate fresh water As an industry we need to recognise the contribution that agriculture has or shade being obvious examples. This may include some strategic tree made towards greenhouse gasses associated with climate change, nitrous planting, providing longer term benefits to stock plus some environmental
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SEPTEMBER 2021 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET
