The ARCZero project is fast galvanising farmers across Northern Ireland in terms of how they view the challenge of climate change and their response to it.
But, fundamentally, ARCZero represents a message of hope for the future.
At a very strategic level, the project will deliver the framework, which will be used to contextualise the targets set down within the climate change legislation agreed by Stormont earlier this year.
But more than this, ARCZero will help identify fundamental management changes that can be introduced on every local farm in a very straightforward way.
And much of this messaging will be delivered under the banner: ‘Improving efficiency will deliver a reduced carbon footprint’. And, of course, improving efficiency will also help deliver improved profits within every farm business.
ARCZero farm walk
Approximately 300 people attended a recent farm walk, hosted recently by the Harbison family in Co. Derry. Their Aghadowey farm looked an absolute picture on the day.
But more than that, the visitors taking part in the event were provided with a unique opportunity to gauge what can be done to set meaningful targets that can harmonise both production and the factors that determine the size of the carbon footprint created by a farming business.
And all of this is being achieved in a very practical way and within a very modern dairying environment.
Paying for carbon
But ARCZero is also serving to profile another equally important message. Yes farming for carbon is the future, but governments and consumers/retailers will have to pay farmers for the carbon they manage.
Delivering on-farm efficiencies will only get agriculture so far down the road in its journey towards carbon net zero. To get us all the way there, farmers will have to be paid for the carbon they actively sequester within their businesses.
Government is already adopting this principle, where energy companies are concerned and the implementation of their policies towards future fossil fuel usage.
The fact is that farmers manage the largest carbon stores in the country; it’s in our soils, woodlands, trees and hedgerows. So the same approach must be taken by government, where production agriculture is concerned.
And no better man to espouse this principle than ARCZero chairman, Prof. John Gilliland.
To be honest, I have been very circumspect about the farming industry’s ability to respond effectively to climate change. However, I left the Harbison farm a very happy man.
As I headed for home, it dawned on me that climate change represents the greatest opportunity that has confronted local agriculture in my lifetime.
