(Above pictured is Peter’s hill farm in West Yorkshire)

This project led by Dr Peter Gittins and Dr Deema Refai of University of Leeds aims to assist UK farmers in their transition to net-zero agriculture by identifying the barriers and constraints they face, evaluating current progress in measuring carbon emissions, and helping farmers develop strategies for becoming net-zero through entrepreneurial skillsets and business activities. Scroll down to find out how to get involved.

Phase One: Farmer Interviews & Carbon Mapping (February-June)

The project will conduct on-farm interviews with upland/hill farmers to discuss barriers in
becoming net-zero and views on current and proposed new environmental schemes. The
project will also interview stakeholders such as agricultural organizations, local councils, and
wildlife and conservation groups.

On-farm interviews with farmers (no longer than an hour):

• Cumbria- W/C April 3rd ———— W/C May 22nd onwards till August
• Yorkshire- W/C April 10th ——— W/C May 22nd onwards till August
• Exmoor- W/C April 17th ———– W/C May 22nd onwards till August

They aim to produce:

• A policy brief outlining farmer concerns around adapting to ELMs and becoming net zero
• An academic journal article
• A podcast/university seminar event- hybrid event you will be invited to
• An article summarizing the key findings from the activities published in The Conversation.

Phase two:

They will be hosting a two-day workshop event at Leeds University Farm. Throughout the event, attendees will have the opportunity to hear from a diverse array of academic and industry speakers and participate in planned activities. The theme of the workshop is focused on developing the skillsets of farmers. Topics include:

• Developing an Effective Farm Business Strategy
• Exploring New Markets and Entrepreneurial Opportunities
• Innovation and Technology: Tour of the National Pig Centre
• Environmental Sustainability
• Marketing Your Farm Business
• Policy Session and Discussion: The Future of UK Agriculture – Adapting to ELMs
  and Net-Zero

Why Take Part?

By taking part in this research project, you can gain valuable insights into how your farming
practices impact the environment. You can also contribute to academic research and
influence UK policy-making. Furthermore, you will be invited to attend workshops later in the year at the University Farm, where you can learn about topics such as adding value to your farm business, designing an effective business strategy, exploring new markets and
entrepreneurial opportunities, future-proofing your farm business, and sustainable farming
practices. These workshops will be led by academics and industry speakers, providing a
great opportunity for you to expand your knowledge and skills in these areas.

To register your interest, please email Dr Peter Gittins at p.gittins@leeds.ac.uk or call 07480135127.

Finally, if you know of any farmers who might want to get involved in this project who do not have internet access, then please pass on the above contact information and they will personally sign them up.

With thanks from the project team:

Dr Peter Gittins & Dr Deema Refai

Supporting farmers and growers to integrate Nature Based Solutions alongside food production

Over the last few weeks, four key reports have been published that are highly relevant to farming and land use:

• The Green Finance Institute’s (GFI) Financing a Farming Transition document
• The IPCC’s latest AR6 Synthesis Report
• Defra’s Environmental Improvement Plan
• Defra’s Nature Markets Framework

The UK has made a legally binding commitment to net zero emissions by 2050. This ambitious target will require the rapid decarbonisation of the entire economy. Although agriculture currently accounts for an 11% share of GHG emissions in the UK, the industry is projected to have an increasing share (perhaps as high as 30%) by 2030, as other sectors reduce emissions more quickly. The GFI report notes that there is an urgent need for greater financial support to help farmers achieve this ambitious target over and above the funds likely to be available through the different elements of the Environmental Land Management Scheme.

Of course, it is highly evident that this urgent transition in farming practices cannot happen without government support, and the 2021 report commissioned by Defra (and delivered by the Green Finance Institute) found a £3.7 billion financing gap for sustainable soil management and a £19.4 billion gap for protecting and restoring biodiversity to the end of 2030. With farmland representing 71% of the UK’s land area – and the reality that most of the investment will be required at the land management level – engagement with farmers will be crucial in closing this gap for soils and nature, as will ensuring that farmers are properly supported through the transition. 

In this space there has been much talk of the potential for stacking and bundling.

What does stacking involve?

When more than one type of separate credit or unit is issued from the same activity on the same parcel of land this is known as ‘stacking’ – for example if a land manager were to sell both carbon and water quality units from the same woodland (Extracted from Defra’s Nature Market Framework 2023).

What does bundling involve?

When a single credit is sold representing several different environmental benefits (for example a wetland unit delivering carbon, biodiversity and water quality benefits), this is termed ‘bundling’.

While Defra is keen to support greater use of stacking as well as explicit bundling, the devil could well be in the detail with some markets already starting to raise concerns on how this will work in practice. For businesses looking to enter such agreements, it will be imperative to secure robust and water tight agreements prior to commitment. 

The GFI’s Financing the Farm Transition report made recommendations for change in four distinct areas to enable more effective financing of this transition. The report clearly recognises the need for more guidance for farmers and landowners on environmental markets, how they work, and key principles that need to be established. Alongside this is improving access and availability of robust data and the identification of the key environmental outcome metrics to monitor and support farmers to work together to deliver the transition. Defra’s Nature Markets Framework goes some way to bridging this information gap.

FCT welcomes the suggestion that the cost of collating and verifying the data collected by farmers to measure their environmental impact could be shared by Government and the private sector. Currently the use of carbon audit tools is relatively low, unless specifically required by individual supply chains.

FCT and Wilder Carbon working in partnership

To support farmers who wish to increase the level of nature-based solutions on their land holdings alongside food production, FCT has teamed up with Wilder Carbon to offer the tools and advice to determine the best integration of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) finance and agriculture for a future land management system that achieves multiple benefits for the public good. The Farm Focused NbS provides an all-encompassing toolkit for land managers to assess, plan, deliver and fund a carbon reduction plan that, crucially, supports habitat restoration as a way of insetting farm business residual carbon footprint within the holding or landscape, as well as accessing the voluntary carbon market (VCM) to leverage carbon finance and deliver the management practice for the long term. 

To find out more about this new initiative go to  https://www.wildercarbon.com/ or contact Liz.Bowles@farmcarbontoolkit.org.uk

We are pleased to announce the publication of our 2022 Annual review. This document looks back over  2022 to celebrate our achievements and share how our organisation is supporting  the agri food sector to play its best part to deliver a nature friendly decarbonisation.

As a not for profit organisation we are constantly working to improve the ways we function and deliver our services to ensure maximum impact.  Last year we were awarded UK research funding. This funding is enabling us to upgrade our Calculator to align with all the new industry guidance and to provide greater interoperability with other data platforms, reducing the data inputting onus on farmers.

• Our 2022 review demonstrates a selection of some of the exciting projects and partnerships we have been working on, and discusses some of the continual developments to our Farm Carbon Calculator and the services we provide to the sector. This is all set within the crucial context of emissions reductions on farms alongside business resilience.
• We provide evidence on how broadly we engage with the farming community and the extent and effectiveness of our outreach activities.
• We have also included our own emissions footprint, which we are committed to reducing as quickly and effectively as possible.

You can read the review here.

We really hope you enjoy reading it, if you have any questions or comments we’d love to hear from you. You can find our contact details on the final page of the review or at the bottom left of all our website pages.

Warm regards,

The FCT team.