End of Year 2023
Climate Action Planning for Net Zero by 2028
REDUCING EMISSIONS & SEQUESTRATION
oxide. Cows pro-
The first priority is to “decarbonize” how energy is produced for the farm. The second is reducing emissions from farm operations and land use. The third is increasing carbon sequestration, which takes years or decades, and is fragile and reversible.
duce methane gas in their gut as they digest carbon-rich plants, which they release by belching. (Manure is a second source of methane; nitrous oxide is from urine.) With a few exceptions, directly measuring these gasses is pro- Connor Stedman is our Climate Action Advisor, helping Shelburne hibitively expensive Farms develop the Climate Action Plan for our 1,400-acre farm. and impractical. So we’re using a combination of modeling and measurement. We’re using a giant greenhouse gas calculator for farms (“COMET”): we enter data on our inputs and practices, and it spits out our CO2 emissions. But it doesn’t model sequestration well, or recognize farm innovations, so we’re hoping to develop different methodologies for that through research partnerships and direct measurement. There are exciting research questions and a lot of educational potential as well.
“Shelburne Farms is on unique land and the invitation has been, ‘What’s right to do here?’ To me that’s really significant and exciting.” — Connor Stedman
THE BIG QUESTIONS FOR FARM OPERATIONS What does it take to make the property run on renewable energy? What changes to infrastructure, or the means of energy production, or renovations of buildings are needed? And what does it take to cut emissions from the farm itself? That’s not as straightforward. Decades of managing permanent pastures has already regained us a lot of soil carbon, so the place to go further is in innovations to reduce methane, including linseed-based feed supplements, encouraging certain forage plants, and possibly biochar applications. Then it’s figuring out where and how to plant trees to store more carbon over the longterm. MEASURING ON-FARM PROGRESS We’re talking about three climate gasses and their biogeochemical cycles: carbon, methane, and nitrous
WHAT WILL IT TAKE? The sustained focus on reducing emissions is going to determine whether we reach net zero. And there’s always going to be variability. We should think of net zero as a rolling average across three or five years. Read the full interview on our website.
HOLLY BROUGH
Shelburne Farms has set a goal to achieve net zero by 2028—capturing more greenhouse gasses than we produce on the farm. Connor Stedman explains the major work that will help get us there.