Greenhouse gas rules can benefit farmers

That is the message from Dr Bob Rees who is heading up a new carbon management centre set up by the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) in Edinburgh.

Rees admitted that the whole issue of carbon management and climate change was a turn-off for many farmers but those taking the trouble to manage their fertiliser, slurry and manure applications were reaping the benefits.

"This change in attitude is saving farmers money and cutting emissions," he said. "Agriculture is responsible for about 20 per cent of emissions at present so farmers have to play their part. Whatever the impact and adaptation choices, there is an obligation on everyone to reduce emissions." The new centre will feed into the college's research, teaching and consultancy divisions but will also work with the Scottish Government's new Centre for Expertise on Climate Change to deliver high level policy advice to government and industry partners.

A third of SAC's new research contracts are carbon related and the college will be investing 1.3 million in the new centre over the next three years, including the appointment of a professor of behavioural change.

Simplistic attitudes of reducing livestock production to cut methane emissions from cattle and sheep are not the answer to the problem, according to Rees.

"More than 80 per cent of the world's available land cannot grow crops but can support livestock," he pointed out. "We need systems that make the most efficient use of key resources, including livestock production from grassland."

SAC is also conducting a ground-breaking field trial on the use of biochar - a carbon rich product obtained from organic feedstocks through a process called pyrolysis - which it is believed could make a useful soil nutrient. Ecologist Dr Oliver Knox said biochar had the potential to make soil more productive by helping retain water, supporting more soil micro organisms, reducing nutrient loss and controlling acidity.