Did you know that any given moment in time, there are on average 9,728 commercial planes in the air, carrying 1,270,406 passengers? In 2019, 4.5 billion passengers were carried by commercial airlines. Aviation is responsible for 12% of carbon emissions worldwide, whilst road transport is responsible for a whacking 74%.
Why do I mention this?
Well George Hosier, a farming friend of mine, recently travelled to Australia on an Airbus A380 to visit some relatives. These massive planes carry approximately 500 passengers and use 330,000 litres of fuel for a one-way flight to Melbourne.
George worked out that this is over 9 years’ worth of fuel use on his farm, during which time he produced enough wheat for 23 million loaves of bread, barley for 152 million pints of beer, peas for 700,000 cans of mushy peas and 500 cattle for prime, grass fed beef.
George went on to say “Now I am not for one second saying that farming is perfect or that no one should travel in aeroplanes, but within the farming industry there is a feeling that we are being singled out as the bad guys in the whole climate change debate, when actually we all need to look at our personal carbon footprint and all make little changes to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels.
For instance, we could reduce travel (or swap the car for the train where possible), reduce food waste (as a nation we throw away 1/3 of the food purchased), buy local to cut down food miles, reuse/repair more and recycle more. If we all do a little it will start to add up!”
I would also add that George has put about 5 miles of new hedgerows in, to encourage wildlife. He also grows “wild bird seed mixes” – non-harvested crops grown specifically for feeding wild birds’ over-winter. He also supplementary feeds birds too, by scattering mixed seeds along tracks and field edges from January until April as food is in short supply at this time of year.
George is also an advocate of “no-till” farming. He basically does not cultivate his arable land, but instead drills crops straight into the ground. This obviously saves fuel (pulling a plough through the ground is hard work for the tractor which consumes lots of diesel) and because the soil is not disturbed, earthworm numbers rocket. They help to break down organic matter, aerate the soil and provide lots of extra food for birds and mammals.
Soil is also a great sequester of carbon, especially if it is not cultivated. Also, because the stubble from the previous crop is left on the surface, rather than been buried by the plough, birds find lots of food that would otherwise have been hidden underground.
In November 2011 George put PV solar panels on two separate barns at either end of the farm, which provides a total of 54kw/h and helps to reduce his carbon footprint and reduce the electricity costs to his business.
Now, George is a great example of the way that farmers can look to improve how they farm more environmentally. But do not think that he is in a minority in the way he thinks and acts. There has been a big sea change in the way many farmers are now farming, with a keen eye on how to improve the quality of their soils, water and the environment in general.
At the Oxford Farming Conference in January 2019, the excellent National Farmers Union president Minette Batters announced the NFU’s ambition to achieve net zero for agriculture by 2040. With farmers such as George leading the way, I think that this is perfectly achievable.
Farming currently creates around 10% of the UK’s greenhouse emissions. But as George says, “there is a feeling that we are being singled out as the bad guys in the whole Climate Change Debate”.
I would say, yes, there is much work to be done, but I think that farmers fully realise this and are grasping the nettle with both hands. Plus, don’t forget that in the meantime they are growing the food to sustain us all – something that a well-fed, affluent population sometimes seem to forget. So maybe a little less farmer bashing and a bit more encouragement might be the order of the day looking forward?
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