Dairy Farmer magazine's April 2021 digital edition

A word from the Editor

The way in which we farm looks set to change in the future. Issues surrounding the phasing out of the Basic Payment Scheme, the introduction of the Environmental Land Management scheme, net zero and even ammonia permiing feature frequently in the farming press. e word ‘sustainability’ is thrown about with abandon.

Carbon has been, and continues to be, a hugely important topic. ere is much debate about just how much information farmers will need to capture, who will require (or demand) this information, and perhaps more importantly how the data will be gathered in the rst place. e science around this topic also continues to evolve.

But carbon reporting looks set to creep higher up the agenda in the future. It seems likely that larger organisations, which will need to comply with the streamline energy and carbon reporting policy, will expect farmers to provide them with their farm carbon data in order to provide a full picture across the whole supply chain. And while experts on carbon suggest carbon e ciency is strongly correlated to production e - ciency, it still does not take away from the fact it is something else for farmers to get a handle on.

Agenda

One thing is for certain, this environmental agenda is not going to go away. This is, like it or loathe it, the direction of travel across the industry and it is clear farmers must be prepared to get on board. While there is no silver bullet to solve the global climate crisis, agriculture must play a role in being part of the solution. If farmers don’t toe the line willingly, it seems likely that some sort of ‘stick’ will also enter the equation.