The Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers calls on the Government to create a joined-up approach to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on-farm after the UK signed a Global Methane Emissions pledge at COP26 in Glasgow yesterday (2 Nov).  

More than 100 countries have pledged to cut emissions of methane. This commits signatories to reduce their overall emissions by 30 per cent by 2030, compared with 2020 levels.  

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The new initiative emphasises making cuts by tackling methane from livestock farming and leaks from oil and gas wells and other fossil fuel infrastructure, for example.  

However, the RABDF believes it is unacceptable to focus on just one greenhouse gas, such as methane, with a joined-up agriculture policy required to tackle farm emissions.  

Peter Alvis, RABDF Chairman, said: “It is difficult for agriculture to focus on a single gas because of the complex nature of livestock farming and the range of systems. We need to look at it holistically and have a policy that can tackle emissions collectively.  

“Whilst we have the Clean Air Strategy and the Environment Land Management (ELM) scheme coming down the line, this is not supplying farmers with the tools they need to reduce emissions.  

“We need (from the Government) a policy that is driven by up-to-date and accurate data. This will allow farmers to evaluate the best options for their systems, ensuring they can produce high-quality British food with lower emissions.”  

The RABDF also stresses the importance that farming should not be seen as the scapegoat for methane emissions, nor should food production be exported to countries with lower animal or environmental standards than we have in the UK.  

“We must remember dairy farming is responsible for less than 2% of the UK’s total emissions¹and of those emissions, 46% comes from their digestion², a perfectly natural process of ruminants. Livestock farming is often blamed for emissions, when in fact it is part of the solution when it comes to emissions as well as helping to feed the growing global population.”  

The RABDF has produced a series of emissions facts and a toolkit to explain the emissions from dairy farming. This can be found at www.rabdf.co.uk/emissions   

References  

1: https://dairy.ahdb.org.uk/media/623464/greenhouse_gas_emissions_ on_british_dairy_farms.pdf 

2: Arla- A Sustainable Future for British dairy report- August 2021