Carbon Trust Helps Track Dirty Carbon Farming Footprint

Posted on 10. Aug, 2009 by Ross in Food Production, United Kingdom

The trade group for the dairy industry - Dairy UK - has recently announced a partnership with the Carbon Trust to develop a new guide for calculating the carbon footprint of dairy products.

The alliance would pave the way for carbon labelling to start appearing on milk, cream and cheese, as well as enabling easier calculation of carbon footprints for the wide array of foods which use those products in their production.

More crucially, it would create a framework against which the progress of farmers towards reducing their contributions to rising levels of carbon dioxide could be measured. The UK Government’s recent Low Carbon Transition Plan included a brand-new carbon reduction target of 6% for the agricultural sector by 2020.

As well as aiming to meet this target by increasing funding for anaerobic digesters, Carbon Trust interest-free loans were made available to farmers for the first time, which can be used for energy-efficiency projects such as boiler upgrades and low-energy barn lighting.

Welcoming the project, farming minister Jim Fitzpatrick said:

In the future, all our food industries are going to need to do more to meet the challenges of climate change and conserving and preserving our natural resources. The dairy industry has shown what can be done in a short time, and has set a clear benchmark for other food businesses.

Strong carbon-based environmental targets have been noticeably absent for agricultural policy until recently. Most targets have revolved around sign-up levels for general schemes and unambitious recycling targets for produce packaging.

Farming is a sizeable contributor to global carbon emissions, primarily through the methane emitted by bacteria in the guts of livestock. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, trapping 20 times more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

Image of young calf by Ross Tucknott