FWAG is now delivering Carbon Footprint Reports, which is a new service available to farmers who are concerned about the impact of their business activity on climate change.
Energy and Carbon auditing can be a very useful business tool. Comments from 2 farmers visited were;
“Carrying out the carbon footprint really made us think about our costs, especially electricity and fuel. You don’t really know where you are until you get a carbon footprint done. We are all aware of what we should be doing, but need to identify ways in which we can effectively reduce emissions and costs at the same time” Mr Steer, Hele Farm.
“Getting ready for the calculations was a useful exercise; it made me stop and remind myself to look at our costs and inputs. The visit prompted me to check the timer and think about what lights were being left on unnecessarily” Julian Ellis, Boscarne Farm.
Further work is required to more accurately assess sequestration of different crops and management practices locally, self-sufficiency of forage production, include aspects such as waste production and perhaps benchmark on the basis of kg of milk solids, rather than per litre of milk. Watch this space!
Check out the bechmark tables in the next section.
Further fully or partially funded visits may become available in the near future. Contact FWAG for more information.
The tool used in this audit was funded by the South West Regional Development Agency and produced by one of the UK's leading sustainable development charities, Forum for the Future. It has been fairly widely piloted in the dairy sector in other areas of the UK.
The tool calculate the carbon footprint of the business, and does not calculate lifecycle carbon footprints of produce, which is more complex, technical, time consuming and costly.
DEFRA, the Carbon Trust and the BSI are currently working on a standard carbon calculator for the agriculture industry.
The calculator tool used by FWAG draws on well established sources of information and research to quantitatively assess the net GHG emissions of a farm given relatively basic information on the holding’s resources, operations, energy usage etc.
Agriculture contributes to global climate change by the direct and indirect production of three gases: carbon dioxide (CO2); methane (CH4); nitrous oxide (N2O). These gases differ in their global warming potential. For example, nitrous oxide is 310 times more effective than CO2 at heating the atmosphere. To help compare sources, total emissions are often expressed in terms of how much CO2 would be needed to produce a similar effect. This is called ‘CO2 equivalent’ (CO2e). For example, 1t N2O = 310t CO2e.
Below are the key on-and off-farm sources of these gases. NB The type of enterprises will heavily impact on relative importance of each source. Gas CO2e values are also given.
Carbon dioxide (1 CO2e)
• Fuel usage (white and red diesel, petrol and LPG) – including contractors
• Electricity usage e.g. lighting, heating, drying and cooling
• Manufacture of fertilisers (off-farm, by fertiliser producers)
Methane (21 CO2e)
• Enteric fermentation e.g. cow flatulence!
• Animal waste management e.g. animal waste stored for a long time as liquid tends to decompose anaerobically and produces a significant quantity of methane gas
• Manufacture of fertilisers
Nitrous oxide (310 CO2e)
• Animal waste management e.g. slurry tanks
• Forage production and the application of inorganic nitrogen
• Manufacture of fertilisers
Carbon Sequestration
Farms can reduce their net impact on climate change by sequestrating (or capturing) carbon dioxide. These examples give approximate annual CO2 sequestration values:
• Energy crops e.g. short rotation coppice (7t/Ha)
• Woodland regeneration and management (4t/Ha)
• Reduce tillage methods (1.25t/Ha)
• Grass in rotation at least two years in six (1t/Ha)
• Applying manure/slurry to land (up to 0.4t/Ha)