Tools that can help with carbon footprint assessments

Ambitious carbon footprinting requirements from milk buyers are an opportunity to improve farm efficiency and road-test important environmental impact tools, farmers heard at Dairy Day this week (15 September).

Farms supplying major retailers will have to start producing carbon footprint assessments from April next year.

Kite Consulting’s John Allen said this was in response to the government’s net-zero target, which aims to slash national emissions by 78% by 2035 compared with 1990 levels.

Farms form part of supermarkets’ “scope three” emissions. Scope one includes direct emissions such as heating shops, and scope two is indirect emissions, such as travelling to work.

Mr Allen said some aligned farms had already submitted assessments for their milk buyers.

Addressing a packed climate seminar, livestock sustainability consultant Jude Capper told farmers there was no perfect carbon toolkit.

See also: Don’t be too hasty to sell carbon credits, farmers warned

Shortcomings included an inability to manage two crops in a year (such as cover crops after oilseed rape) and big issues such as pasture being classed as a feed or not. But she encouraged farmers to road-test tools so developers could improve them.

“The more farms that use the tools, the more data that goes into the systems, the better road-tested they are – it’s a positive feedback cycle,” said Dr Capper.

She added: “Then we identify gaps and improve the science. We need an industry standard for carbon and, eventually, a global standard to compare us with New Zealand, Australia, Europe and the US. We should all be able to talk back at the myths – we must protect our industry.”