What carbon auditing could offer your arable farming business

Auditing

Graham Potter, who farms near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, is one of four farmers selected by Sustainable Futures to help develop carbon auditing.

He says: “Given we are losing the Basic Payment Scheme and the Government is having to reform what we do and how we are paid, there could be benefits if we can prove we are farming carbon neutrally here.

“If we can sell carbon credits, this would be another income stream.”

The fact Mr Potter has good farm records on Gatekeeper has helped him develop the carbon audit.

Mr Cann says: “We wanted to find out the scale of the carbon issue, set benchmark values and understand how we can influence things at farm level.

“We wanted to look at cropping, the farm and rotation, and put together core information about where carbon is generated and how we can manage this.

“The numbers help us identify where the problems are and what the quick wins are, which could simply be choosing a different type of nitrogen. Then we can look at everything else we may have to do to meet the requirements of the new Agriculture Bill, or the needs of the supply chain.

“We can take a hectare of arable land and convert it to woodland, which captures carbon but will not feed anyone. Graham is showing us it is possible to catch carbon and produce food, by looking at the soil side of things as well as carbon emissions associated with diesel use, fertiliser and ag chem.”

Records

For the carbon audit research, Mr Potter sends digital crop records to independent soil scientist Neil Fuller.

He says: “We analyse the data using IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] values for carbon, our own field data and information from suppliers, for example carbon certificates from Yara for each of their products.

“The results show us carbon management is more about optimising inputs than simply reducing them. Using less nitrogen and crop protection products may reduce carbon emissions per hectare, but if yield is compromised, carbon emissions per tonne can increase significantly, which affects the entire supply chain.”

Carbon audit

Mr Cann says Sustainable Futures has developed a workable system which can generate the necessary numbers and is now taking steps to gain accreditation, so industry partners can incorporate carbon audits into their farm record systems.

“We can fine tune it. We need to make it as quick and easy to use as possible. Results need to be meaningful, valuable and informative.”

Carbon facts

Nitrogen fertiliser makes the biggest carbon contribution to arable crop production, says Mr Fuller.

“About half of this relates to nitrous oxide released from the soil after fertiliser has been applied.”

Almost 50% of the total carbon reserve in UK arable soils has been lost in the last 60 years.

Sustainable Futures takes a soil-focused approach to practical carbon management.