Farming: Scotsheep event highlights net zero carbon audits

Farmers shouldn’t use the continued lack of a single, standardised system for conducting on-farm carbon audits as an excuse for avoiding the undertaking the exercise and should take this first step on their journey to net zero.

Robert and Hazel McNee

That was one of the messages to come out of yesterday’s packed Scotsheep which saw a record number flock to the event at Robert and Hazel McNee’s Over Finlarg farm outside Dundee.

Ideal weather conditions added to the pent up desire from the industry to meet up with friends and neighbours after two years of Covid restrictions to see a record number.

And focus on carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions at the event underlined how the future of the sheep sector – along with that of the whole farming industry – had changed since the event was first scheduled in 2020.

The new focus was highlighted in the drawing up of a full farm carbon audit for the farm by main sponsors, Virgin Money.

“Carbon and the journey to net zero is hot topic in the Agri industry,” said the bank’s head of agriculture, Brian Richardson.

“Many farmers have already taken steps to evaluate their carbon output and put measures in place to reduce this. However, others are still unsure about what they can do to change this.”

He said that the aim of the audit of the Scotsheep host farm was to enable those attending the event to visualise what it entailed and gain clarity on how they could go about it.

“For many this will be a steep learning curve – but it is the direction of travel not only for support measures but it will also be an issue increasingly requested by customer further down the supply chain.”

He said that it was also becoming an increasing requirement for banks to show due diligence by factoring in environmental and climate change when they assessed loan applications, not only across the commercial sector but also for the farming industry.

And he also revealed that Virgin Money had launched what was claimed to be the first dedicated fund to help farmers with green loans, with £200 million available at a reduced rate for projects which helped cut the carbon footprints of agricultural units.

“Loans are available with 0 per cent arrangement fees when a farmer completes a carbon audit and is borrowing over £50,000 to invest in emission reducing initiatives, like renewable energy, energy efficiency initiatives or activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Richardson.

However, along with Simon Haley, founder and director of Carbon Metrics which specialises in the field and conducted the audit for host farm, he agreed that the current range of different calculator tools which were available was confusing and called for governments to step in and introduce a meaningful element of standardisation.

“But despite the fact that the audit tools will undoubtedly continue to develop in the future, farmers need to be proactive in adjusting their businesses to a low carbon future and it would make sense to start out now by setting a base-line.”