The National Sheep Association (NSA) has said that additional investment is needed to support agricultural businesses in meeting the sector’s net zero targets.
The association said it welcomes the government’s strategies for green investment and frameworks for nature markets, but believes that they fall short and fail to specify the investment needed for agriculture.
NSA chief executive Phil Stocker said the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) estimates that agriculture still accounts for 11% of total UK greenhouse gas emissions, and is concerned that current policies are not adequate to help the sector bring this figure down.
“NSA fears that, while other industries have seen high levels of investment, Defra policies are currently inadequate to enable targets to be met, and new future farming schemes are not being adequately measured and evaluated in terms of their contribution to net zero,” he said.
The NSA said it believes there is huge potential in untapped resources on farms that could help the nation deliver net zero and take advantage of the green finance strategy, but that this requires changes.
“There are already income-generating opportunities for some farmers in sequestering carbon, cleaning natural resources such as water, and providing for nature – but farmers are rightly nervous of getting involved due to being uncertain about brokering the deal, the actual values being offered, and whether they will need this themselves to offset their own farming activities in the future,” Stocker said.
“There is little point in selling carbon credits today and in a few years’ time finding we have to offset our footprints by buying from others, potentially at a higher cost.
“We urgently need the government and Defra to implement the frameworks that allow this to happen so that farmers can spread income opportunities across food production and delivery of public goods and services.
“Defra is being widely blamed for a lack of investment in policies that lead us to net zero and as a result, agriculture is lagging behind improvements being made in some other industries such as the energy sector where moves towards renewables are clear to see.”
Commitment to agriculture
The NSA said it recognises the government’s commitment to maintain its £2.4 billion public investment in farming and the environment this parliamentary term, but that these plans paint the picture of new private money working alongside government programmes and bolstering public funds.
“Whilst a committed £2.4 billion budget for the next few years gives some comfort to the industry, NSA has always been of the opinion that the budget is inadequate if a true value is placed on the public goods already delivered by agriculture, let alone delivering more in the future to meet our climate, nature and natural resource challenges,” Stocker said.
“We absolutely should expect future governments to not just continue this investment into our industry but to increase the budget based on the challenges ahead.
“While agriculture needs to reduce emissions, we also need agreed methods to take account of the entire carbon cycle including the role of sequestration in soils, grassland, and farm habitats such as hedgerows.
“The more we can reduce emissions the more offsetting sequestration opportunities arise to create income for the farm business, so to focus on both makes sense.”
Stocker said these private funding opportunities need to be made accessible “for your average farmer”, and not just for large operators or wildlife organisations who “have the ability to produce a glossy prospectus”.
