Farming must not become methane emissions 'scapegoat'

Farming must not be seen as the 'scapegoat' for methane emissions, farming chiefs have warned. It comes after the UK signed a Global Methane Emissions pledge at COP26 in Glasgow on Tuesday November 2, with more than 100 countries pledging to cut methane emissions. It will see the UK cut its methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030. In response the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) has called on the Government for a joined-up agricultural policy to tackle farm emissions, stating it was unacceptable to focus on one greenhouse gas. "It is difficult for agriculture to focus on a single gas because of the complex nature of livestock farming and the range of systems," Peter Alvis RABDF chair said. "We need to look at it holistically and have a policy that can tackle emissions collectively." Mr Alvis added the Clean Air Strategy and the new Environment Land Management (ELM) scheme had failed to supply farmers with the tools they will need to reduce emissions. "We need a Government policy that is driven by up-to-date and accurate data," he said. "This will allow farmers to evaluate the best options for their systems, ensuring they can produce high-quality British food with lower emissions." He stressed dairy farming was responsible for less than 2 per cent of the UK's total emissions and of those emissions, 46 per cent comes from their digestion, a perfectly natural process of ruminants."Livestock farming is often blamed for emissions, when in fact it is part of the solution when it comes to emissions as well as helping to feed the growing global population," he said. Destocking However, Nigel Miller, chair of Ruminant Health and Welfare, vet and former NFU Scotland president, warned the livestock and dairy sectors must deliver an effective farm-level response to the pledge or face the 'soundbite' solution of reducing numbers and downsizing livestock production. "The truth is ruminant sectors can no longer shelter behind carbon efficiency alone," Mr Miller said."We must use this pledge to trigger a change in mindset and take control of our share of the problem."The management focus has to be all about reducing methane emissions in the next 10 years if dairy, beef and sheep producers are to protect their future."He highlighted immediate opportunities for cattle and sheep farmers such as driving targeted health improvements to reduce involuntary culling and increasing longevity in dairy and breeding stock to help achieve the target this decade. "We are also on the threshold of having commercially available feed additives which have reduced enteric methane emissions in some trials by over 30 per cent," he said. "In the medium-term, new genetics offer a range of solutions, the most direct being heritable reductions of enteric emissions in cattle and sheep, supported by other traits such as mature weight and robustness which might combine into a climate change index."Challenge But Mr Miller warned measuring gases and monitoring a farm's emissions profile would be a 'key challenge' for each producer. "The Scottish Government has just announced a £50 m package to support farm carbon audits and planning and we need this type of support across the four nations," he said. "We also need a standardised greenhouse gas calculator farmers can work off, one which ensures consistent feedback as new measures emerge and is approved using the same values or coefficients to ensure the outputs are comprehensive and up-to-date." Dairy farmers voice lack of support for UK environment enhancement Revised milk contracts and universally-applied higher standards across all milk and dairy products should be used to deliver positive environmental changes. That was the findings of a new briefing 'How should good businesses treat dairy in a sustainable food future?' published today by the Food Ethics Council (FEC) following a Business Forum debate with industry representatives and farmers in October 2021. In the last six months, FEC has run a series of workshops with producers, as part of a three-year Dairy Project, to hear their perspectives on accelerating a shift to fairer and more ethical dairy systems in the UK. It revealed some felt unfairly able to compete for contracts which supported them with environmental changes as well as a need for higher minimum standards for all UK milk. But retailer representatives said it was unfair to expect them to take the burden for paying for environmental or other improvements if other buyers in the market were just paying on price.Food Ethics Council executive director Dan Crossley said: "It is really important to listen to farmers and give them a platform to articulate what they want and need to deliver positive change."It is time for the wider dairy and food industry, civil society and Government to take notice and do the same. "If we want a fairer and more ethical dairy sector that is better for people, planet and animals then we should give proper support and tools to the dairy producers that want to drive that change."