PART OF THE SOLUTION

As the world convened on Glasgow for COP26, the NFU showed how farmers are making strides towards a net zero industry by 2040

As the UN’s COP26 conference got under way in Glasgow, farmers and growers from across the UK demonstrated how they were part of the climate change solution.

A new NFU report showcased their commitment towards a net zero future for British food production, complete with a wealth of case studies and detailed calls for the right policies to help speed progress.

The report comes two years after the NFU fi rst announced its ambition for British agriculture and horticulture to reach net zero on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2040 – 10 years ahead of the all-industries target.

With that work now well under way, new report Our Journey to Net Zero: Farming’s 2040 Goal sets out fresh asks for government, the industry and the supply chain to further the drive.

It shows how nine pathfi nding NFU members are among those investing in their businesses to reduce emissions, to capture and store more carbon, to increase productivity and soil health

The NFU has represented British farmers and, in an important secretariat role, the wider farmers’ constituency at every COP since 2015. We were there when the Paris Accord was agreed and, with farmer groups from around the world, helped to ensure that the terms ‘food security’ and ‘food production’ both made it into the fi nal agreement. We were again busy in Glasgow, speaking at a range of events and making sure that the voice of farming was heard.

and to produce more renewable energy – all while providing climate-friendly, nutritious and aff ordable food.

The measures in the report come under three broad headings, with each bought to life with case studies: • Improving farming’s resource-use effi ciency – in other words enabling farming to produce the same quantity of food, or more, with fewer inputs in smarter ways; • Farmland carbon storage in soils and vegetation. This is about improving land management to capture more carbon, through measures like new and bigger hedgerows, woodland management and creation and, especially, more carbon-rich soils; • Boosting renewable energy and the bioeconomy to displace emissions from fossil fuels, especially when combined with carbon capture.

NFU President Minette Batters says: “As an industry we have a huge part to play in tackling the climate crisis. It has been incredible to see the innovative and diverse range of measures farmers have employed to make their businesses more sustainable. “The commitment is there – what we now need is a portfolio of policies to support widespread action, whether it’s upgrading rural infrastructure to boost productivity, the further development of farm-level GHG calculators, or investment in methods to remove GHGs from the atmosphere.”