UK college, Harper Adams’ vice-chancellor, Prof. Ken Sloan believes the university will be at the heart of the sustainability debate taking place within farming and food.
“The debate on net zero and the impact this will have on food and farming continues,” he said.
“There is also the UK’s commitment to a carbon net zero position by 2050, and we will also find out about Donald Trump’s policies on these matters next January.
“But we know there are practical steps we can take, which can impact on the carbon footprint and the creation of other nutrients within the food system,” the vice-chancellor said.
Harper Adams’ UK college farm
Prof. Sloan recently addressed members of the Guild of Agricultural Journalists of Ireland.
“Harper’s future farm is an integrated facility comprising both arable and livestock enterprises.
“Last year, our beef enterprise recorded a carbon production figure of 11kg per kg of meat produced. The industry average for the same period was 23.2kg of carbon.
“Where lamb is concerned, the carbon production figure at Harper was 17.6kg of carbon, relative to an industry average of 31.4kg of carbon,” Sloan continued.
“When it comes to milk production, the Harper future farm recorded a carbon production figure of 1.03kg of carbon, relative to an industry average of 1.24kg of carbon.”
According to Prof. Sloan, the figures generated at the Harper Adams’ farm reflect the scope that exists right now to significantly reduce the footprint of production agriculture as a whole.
“So, we can take steps to mitigate the carbon impact of food production, and we can take steps to use the land on which we produce food as a carbon sink.
“Our job as a university is to experiment and then to share the information generated,” he said.
Prof. Sloan confirmed the role of Harper’s School of Sustainable Farming in this context: “Its purpose is to attract more people into farming and food. We also want to ensure we get the evidence that can be used to influence government policy into the future.
“We have also created sustainable farm networks across the UK. By having these, we aim to make sure that if there is evidence of enhanced sustainability being achieved within a farming business, it can be quickly shared amongst the others making up the network.”
In the end, “this only works if the system shifts as an entire entity. Some smaller farms may not be able to achieve as significant a step forward as other businesses”, he explained.
“But this is not the point – the issue is centred on getting real change impacting across agriculture as a whole,” the professor added.
