You may have noticed (unless you've been off the media grid for several months) that climate change has been on the public agenda a lot recently. Although the farming systems which grow our food aren’t the only green house gas (GHG) emitters, reports suggest that they currently account for about 10% of UK emissions.
Good management of farmland can reduce GHG emissions from agriculture as well as removing carbon from the atmosphere, creating and maintaining carbon stores. We know that the farming sector has an opportunity and responsibility to be part of the solution to the challenges of climate change.
Members of the Green House Gas Action Plan (GHGAP) group, many of whom are also CFE partners, are working together on an industry wide approach to support farmers to combat climate change through on-farm measures.
The CFE and GHGAP have long been partner initiatives and we now feel it’s time to step up and add net-zero and climate change mitigation guidance to our current portfolio of farmer-friendly, accessible information on environmental management.
Our current themes are Air, Soil, Water and Wildlife and many of the actions we advocate already have benefits for climate change mitigation; maintaining soil health protects stored carbon and good nutrient planning can save farmers’ money as well as reducing their carbon footprint.
However, we also know that more and more farmers want to make a positive difference and play their part in tackling the causes of climate change. CFE are working with our partners to help them to do this, by developing a new section of our website with net-zero and climate change mitigation guidance in one easy-to-access place.
We’ll also be planning events around the country to support our farmers in integrating climate-friendly measures into their businesses and highlighting the great work many farmers are already doing, which sadly isn’t getting the airtime it deserves.
Look out for further announcements of CFE activity as we start to publish our guidance and schedule our events, and in the meantime you can see the work of individual CFE partners through their organisation webpages.