UK Farming and climate change

A bit more this time, on agriculture and the impact it has on climate change, and what the industry needs to do to do its bit in the UK.

Setting the scene:
UK farms are said to produce around 46.5m tCO2e in GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions each year; that is, around 10% of the total UK emissions. But additionally, we import around 48% of our food, so the carbon footprint from food production is probably much, much higher (and rising). A WWF-UK / Food Climate Resource Network report in 2010 said the actual UK footprint of farming could be more like 30%.

The relationship between farming and climate change has become somewhat fractious over the years. Farmers say that there is a distinct 'anti-meat' agenda out there, with Guy Smith, Deputy President of the NFU (National Farmers Union) saying, "The vegan lobby are hijacking the climate debate."

The politics can be quite confusing. The Conservative government of the 1990s, for example, told farmers that if they improved their standards, that people would be happy to pay a premium for that additional sustainability and welfare. A ban was put in place on sow stalls that restricted the movement of pregnant pigs - it was, the government said - what the consumer wanted. So farmers invested the money to overcome the law, but they were thwarted; there was no such restriction on imported pork and so that consumer support never happened, as people were happy to go for the cheaper (imported) option!

IPCC report:
The NFU, which represents 55,000 British farmers, says that the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on 'Change and Land', has been misinterpreted by many - and especially the BBC - they say, basically boiling it down to 'eat less meat and save the planet.' They point that the actual text of the report says;

"Balanced diets, featuring plant based foods, such as those based on coarse grains, legumes, fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and animal sourced food produced in resilient, sustainable and low GHG emission systems, present major opportunities for adaptation and mitigation while generating significant co-benefits in terms of human health."

The industry claim that beef produced in western Europe, for example, is around 2.5 times more efficient in how carbon is managed than the global average.

This gets into another contentious issue. Beef production is the perceived bad boy of agriculture, in climate change terms, as it is a high producer of methane and nitrogen oxides - which are more damaging GHG's than CO2. While carbon dioxide takes a bit of a backseat in this discussion, scientists don't necessarily agree on the outcomes.

Methane was responsible for 56% of farming GHG emissions in 2017, and NO for 31%. This comes from the complexities of soil and microbial processes. The debate surrounds how much weighting they are given in the scientific outcomes. There are those who say that since they are the big GHG emitters, they must be weighted highly; the flip side is that their effects are easier to reverse, as they don't remain in the atmosphere as long, so the weighting should be lowered somewhat.

The NFU and the future:
The NFU vision, set out in September 2019, says that this 46.5m tonnes of emissions could be removed completely in the next 20 years. They say that;

• More efficient production will remove 11.5m tonnes
• Farmland as a store for carbon will remove 9m tonnes
• A boost to renewables and bioenergy will account for a whopping 22m tonnes

On that last point, countryside online say that farmers have already diversified to renewables production, to the point where they provide power for 10 million homes.

The NFU say that if farmers are offered rewards, then this is all achievable.

But there has been no real progress on reducing farming emissions since 2008. A 2013 target to plant 5,000ha of trees a year has also proved difficult; in England in the year up to March 2019, only 1,420ha was planted (according to the Woodland Trust). Guy Smith says, "We are happy with trees on farmland as long as it doesn't significantly curtail production. [Otherwise] you'll just offshore the carbon and they will continue ripping down the Amazon rainforest."

Countryside Online say that in 2017 there were 35,000 agri-environmental schemes happening with farmers in England, all helping to protect the environment and enhance biodiversity. 

The dairy industry has produced a Dairy Roadmap for 2020 - 2025, setting environmental targets, such as around fertiliser use and hedgerow protections. They claim that GHG emissions from the UK dairy industry have been reduced by 24% since 1990, and that most farmers now undertake nutrient and manure management programmes to minimise water pollution.

The Royal Society for the encouraging of Arts, Manufacturing and Commerce (RSA) Food, Farming & Countryside Commission has a report out that says farming and food systems must be sustainable by 2030 to help with tackling climate change and meeting government targets.

They say meat must come from 'sustainable livestock', and reflect the NFU claim, that farmers could make these big changes over the next decade if they are given the right backing. 

One example would be agro-forestry, where trees are mixed with crop and grazing fields. One farmer engaged in this practice, Ben Raskin, says, "There's a lot of evidence that if an animal is sheltered it's more productive - so its' spending less energy keeping its core warm so it can put more energy into producing milk or putting on weight, which is good, obviously, for production on the farm."

The Wrap:
So, what we see is a need to strike a balance between the need for sustainability and putting in place measures to help reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change; whilst simultaneously dealing with the ever growing demand for cheap (or at least reasonably priced) food.

As with other industries facing the climate change conundrum, it will be a mix of innovation, legislation and willing participation that will lead to UK farming successfully reaching their targets (or otherwise).

Research:
'Out to pasture?' Transform magazine - November 2019
https://www.countrysideonline.co.uk/food-and-farming/protecting-the-environment/how-are-british-farmers-helping-to-tackle-climate-change/ 
https://news.sky.com/story/make-uk-farming-sustainable-to-help-save-the-planet-report-11763956 

How eating meat impacts on the tropics

A study by the University of Edinburgh and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, has estimated that one quarter of the world's tropical land could disappear by the end of this century, unless meat and dairy consumption falls.

They say that around 9% of the earth's natural land (95% of which is in the tropics) will be gone in the next 80 years. They have studied the impact of consumption trends on biodiverse regions (i.e. those with lots of bird, mammal, amphibian and plant species), and found that a rapid increase in the amount of meat and dairy consumed has led to rapid land clearing in the tropics.

Meat production has a much higher land and water use rate, and higher greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, than anything else. As income starts to increase across the globe, those in developing nations are starting to replace their traditional starch-heavy roots and pulse based diets, with more meat, milk and refined sugars.

Basically, this type of trend will always occur when living standards improve. And that is not all that surprising. Livestock are crucial in the developing world; for small-scale farmers, cows and other ruminants offer a flexible option, as they convert relatively low-quality proteins (like grass), into high-quality proteins (like meat and milk). They are vital for those farming in marginal agricultural areas, that are unsuitable for most crops, as they provide a food resource when times are hard, and can also be sold for valuable cash (for medicine, schooling etc.) at other times.

The Edinburgh study says that replacing meat with a plant based diet could see the demand for new grazing land drop by 11% globally. They also point to industrial feed systems, as part of the problem, as they also add to the environmental degradation due to things like fertilisers. This goes along with the IPCC report that highlighted plant based diets as being an essential part of climate change mitigation.

Lead author, Dr Roslyn Henry, said, "Reducing meat and dairy consumption will have positive effects on greenhouse gas emissions and human health. It will also help biodiversity, which must be conserved to ensure the world's growing population is fed. Changing our diets will lead to a more sustainable future and complement food security goals, while addressing global food inequality."

It is anticipated that at current levels of consumption, by 2050 certain meats may be eaten at a rate 90% higher than in 2010 (World Resources Institute)! The global population is expected to reach 10 billion by 2050 - and that is 3 billion more of us than there were in 2010! So turning away from animal derived products could certainly help bridge the sustainability gap in terms of mitigating for food, land and GHG emissions.

Not all agree so wholeheartedly. Chris Barrett, an Agricultural Economist at Cornell University, thinks that pushing for a plant based diet, "are aspirations not components of a viable food security strategy." This is part of a belief that it is only really realistic to expect any sort of pressure to decrease meat consumption in already developed nations, where additional concerns around excessive meat eating can be linked to health conditions.

(Photo: CSIRO Science Image)

The particular issues with beef:
While beef production may have become more efficient over the years, there is still ever more forest being cut down to make way for pasture. And while many people will say that they will eat more plants and a bit less meat, consumption of meat is still on the rise.

Beef has particular links to climate change for several reasons;

• Production: 
• Ruminants emit more methane (their 'burps' are properly called enteric fermentation) than other livestock 
• It is also emitted from their manure
• You also get nitrous oxide from some of the fertilisers used on cattle crops.
• Also - CO2 is also released from the forests cut down to make way for the pastures - cutting trees released that stored carbon straight into the atmosphere.
• Emissions:
• The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reported in 2013 that animal based agriculture is responsible for 14.5% of all human based emissions 
• Beef makes up 41% of that!
• They said that beef demand could grow by as much as 88% by 2050, from 2010 levels.
• And such an increase in demand would require an estimated 400m hectares of additional pasture (that's bigger than India)!
• More resource intensive: 
• Cows have lower growth and reproductive rates than pigs and poultry, so therefore require more feed per unit of meat produced.
• They also require up to 20 times more land, and produce 20 times more emissions than plant based protein production.

So, reducing the amount of beef consumed in developed countries to an average of 50 calories per day (equivalent to 1.5 burgers a week) would eliminate that need for agricultural expansion - even in a world with 10 billion people on it.

Strides are being made to improve how we produce beef;

• Improvements to feed quality and veterinarian care
• Developing breeds that convert feed to meat / milk more efficiently
• Use of rotational grazing - boosts soil health and increases production - and reduces GHG emissions
• There are also now feed additives that can reduce the amount of those 'cow burps'

So - no one is asking, or telling, you to cut out meat entirely. But if you are in a position to think about how your diet can affect the rest of the world - consider cutting back a bit.

Go vegetarian / vegan a couple of days a week - and maybe cut beef down to once a week, or once a fortnight. If every family in the developed world could do this - we could make a difference.

Research:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190812102853.htm
https://www.ed.ac.uk/news/2019/diet-change-needed-to-save-vast-areas-of-tropics
http://theconversation.com/five-ways-the-meat-on-your-plate-is-killing-the-planet-76128
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263290290_The_impact_of_meat_consumption_on_the_tropics_Reply_to_Machovina_and_Feeley
https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/04/6-pressing-questions-about-beef-and-climate-change-answered
https://www.ecowatch.com/beef-and-climate-change-2634244134.html