“A carbon audit? That won’t be useful to me!”
Farming has shaped the Welsh countryside and provided food for generations. Today, the farming community has a new job: To reduce greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining and enhancing the environment surrounding our rural communities.
This focus isn’t entirely new. Farmers have cared for the landscape for years, and environmental stewardship has become ever more prominent since grant payments were linked to environment-based improvements. The new Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) in Wales makes a key positive step in highlighting these positive steps through measuring the carbon emissions and sequestration on farm in a process called baselining or carbon auditing.
Why is this important? When the agricultural industry comes under scrutiny, for the most part we do not have any evidence of the environmental improvements we are making.
Carbon Auditing
A carbon audit measures both a farm’s carbon emissions and its ability to sequester carbon with crops, trees and soil. Data such as livestock numbers and crop yields is collected, allowing farmers to see where emissions occur.
In some cases, the data can also reveal on-farm biodiversity levels and provide insights into water management and nutrient leaching.
A quantifiable result can then be given for the positive actions a farming business carries out. For example, planting hedges may lead to a higher biodiversity score.
The Welsh Government will generate a baseline from data collected from farmers for the SFS. Established carbon auditing tools where farmers input data in themselves include Sandy from Trinity AgTech, Agrecalc from the SRUC and Farm Carbon Calculator from Farm Carbon Toolkit. All have different systems, data entry and benefits.
Due to this process being relatively new however, there are some drawbacks to carbon auditing I should point out.
The Problems
Firstly, beginning the process of data collection on some farms can be challenging- especially when the required information is buried in an overflowing filing cabinet. Advisers from the carbon tools can be a useful asset at this point, and implementing farm management software can make year-on-year reporting of sustainable developments quick and easy. Management platforms you may have heard of include Herdwatch and Omnia.
It would also be remiss of me not to point out that these auditing tools are far from perfect. Although significant development has occurred over recent years, each auditing tool will likely give a different answer from another. This is due to the different models, figures and levels of detail inputted into the tools in the first place.
This doesn’t mean, however, using the same tool cannot point out progress and demonstrate the areas of high emissions on farm.
Why should I get a carbon audit?
I often hear the statement “A carbon audit? That won’t be useful to me!”. There is a danger that those in SFS will view their carbon baseline as a matter of box ticking. This would be a shame as there are so many uses for a carbon audit for all farmers, inside or outside an environmental scheme.
Efficiency & Profitability
A carbon audit can help improve what every business wants, efficiency. Carbon in its multitude of forms is an asset. Crucially minimising its loss or emission means we don’t need to buy more in. How do we minimise this loss? First, we have to identify where this loss occurs. A carbon audit may show cattle slurry has more associated greenhouse gas emissions than your average farm for example. Future plans may focus on catching that gas, keeping the asset and using its potential to produce electricity or fuel a tractor.
Tenancy agreements
Other, less expected, answers to the question are also available. For example, imagine you are bidding to take on a new tenancy. If evidence can be provided (by an audit) that you are adept as a business at increasing biodiversity or reducing carbon emissions this may be of interest to the landowner in meeting their sustainability targets, thus increasing your chances.
Securing contracts
This competitive advantage may be further evident when competing for contracts. Processors are under pressure from consumers and investors to meet their net zero targets. They are more likely to select producers who can contribute to this goal.
New markets
Direct benefit can also come from appealing to the 16% of consumers that rank the environment as the largest influence on choosing the food they buy (AHDB/Blue Marble Trust Survey 2024). Catering to this increasing behavioural trend gives access to new markets and opportunities for adding value to outputs.
The move toward sustainability is unlikely to stop. Driven by consumers, investors, and policymakers, the use of carbon audits is likely to become common place in future grant-based schemes, with many farmers already contractually obliged to complete one.
The next move?
We as an agricultural industry are proud of how we manage the land. But we need to shout about what we achieve. Evidence based shouting will make our position stronger when selling goods, lobbying government and maintaining our role as land managers. How do we get this evidence? It’s time to use carbon auditing.
Iory Hughes, Sustainable Wales Advisor