Welsh meat producers and land owners have called for the standardisation of carbon accounting, following fears that figures being published by different organisations on carbon were sending out inconsistent messages.
Calls for a standardised method of calculating carbon follow on from a recent NFU Cymru Less Favoured Area Board Meeting, at which Professor Gareth Edwards-Jones, Professor of Agriculture and Land Use Studies at Bangor University, spoke.
Professor Gareth Edwards-Jones, said, "Welsh landowners and meat producers need a fair methodology to measure carbon, especially when dealing with global competition. Our current methods only measure the carbon output and don’t measure the positive things that farmers input. The methods used by some bodies do not take into account the carbon locked up in the soil under grasslands, nor do they reflect on the geographic variations that occur between farms in different parts of the country, because of this they may produce inconsistent and misleading results.
"Farmers should not get carbon obsessed and need to be aware of a wide range of benefits that livestock farming offers society, however, carbon is not going anywhere and the pressure to reduce carbon emissions will inevitably return in full force once the economy begins to recover and that’s why it is important for farmers to identify how they can tackle their carbon emissions in developing their businesses."
John Owen NFU Cymru LFA Board Chairman said, "Climate change is a major challenge for Wales’ agricultural industry and I am fully aware that farmers are likely to bear the brunt of many of the consequences of climate change.
"Recent studies have estimated that Wales’ soils contain over 400 million tonnes of stored carbon and this massive carbon store has been described as the rainforest on our doorstep. Wales is also fairly unique in global terms in the amount of blanket bog cover that it is home to, and blanket bog not only represents a significant store of carbon but is also able to absorb carbon.
"It is however, important that people remember that agriculture is primarily an industry concerned with producing the food that we all eat. I know that Welsh farmers are capable of increasing food production whilst impacting less and without compromising the environment upon which we all depend on and it’s getting this balance right that is important."
