Climate Emergency - The Next Decade

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Never mind net zero by 2050 : that’s a long term policy that will maybe only hold us where we are today in terms of warming, that’s even if we can achieve it globally which seems highly unlikely.

What concerns me more is the next decade.
What measures are being put in place to ensure security of water supplies?
Have we given consideration to holding some reserves of food commodities to get us through a dry couple of years without food becoming unacceptably scarce and dear?
Are we looking at building design to mitigate the effects of heatwaves?
Are we considering management of vegetation to avoid wildfires we see becomg moire prevalent on the continent?
I see no strategy at all for the short to medium term problems we will face. Government seems oblivious to the risks that are in front of us today while messing about throwing money at ELMS and other schemes that do nothing to address the problems we face.
Take rewilding as an example.,From what I’ve seen it seems to increase the risk of an uncontrollable wild fire by leaving dead vegetation in place to become tinder dry. The Forestry Commission has a new policy here preventing locals from helping themselves to brash for firewood. It’s all very well saying it sequesters carbon, which is debatable, but it’s left thousands of acres at extreme risk from fire with all the loss of carbon and habitat that itv would entail.
Management rather than rewilding can help us in my view to mitigate extremes. But I don’t see much of it about. The old ways of hygiene and husbandry came about for a reason. That all seems to have been lost and we will pay dearly for it.
 

Humble Village Farmer

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
Essex
Never mind net zero by 2050 : that’s a long term policy that will maybe only hold us where we are today in terms of warming, that’s even if we can achieve it globally which seems highly unlikely.

What concerns me more is the next decade.
What measures are being put in place to ensure security of water supplies?
Have we given consideration to holding some reserves of food commodities to get us through a dry couple of years without food becoming unacceptably scarce and dear?
Are we looking at building design to mitigate the effects of heatwaves?
Are we considering management of vegetation to avoid wildfires we see becomg moire prevalent on the continent?
I see no strategy at all for the short to medium term problems we will face. Government seems oblivious to the risks that are in front of us today while messing about throwing money at ELMS and other schemes that do nothing to address the problems we face.
Take rewilding as an example.,From what I’ve seen it seems to increase the risk of an uncontrollable wild fire by leaving dead vegetation in place to become tinder dry. The Forestry Commission has a new policy here preventing locals from helping themselves to brash for firewood. It’s all very well saying it sequesters carbon, which is debatable, but it’s left thousands of acres at extreme risk from fire with all the loss of carbon and habitat that itv would entail.
Management rather than rewilding can help us in my view to mitigate extremes. But I don’t see much of it about. The old ways of hygiene and husbandry came about for a reason. That all seems to have been lost and we will pay dearly for it.
Haven't most fires this year been in standing cereal crops or stubble?

To completely derisk from fire, the best thing would be to grow nothing and keep cultivating just in case. A bit like the middle east and the Sahara is already. Perfectly safe, very hot temperatures and hardly a fire (or human) in sight.
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Don't worry RCP8.5 is a fantasy.

The globe is not warming as fast as James Hansen predicted.

Climate models are over sensitive to increasing CO2 and don't fit the much larger warming and cooling events , that happened in the last 25 thousand years.
You could well be right.
But until recently we had policies to cope in case you were wrong. In everything from water supply to energy to food production there now seems to be no reserve in the system at all. I think we are running at considerable risk.
I am also suggesting that the presently in vogue policy of leaving as much dead vegetation on the surface as possible, particularly without managed fire breaks isn’t sensible with hotter dryer summers. We are actively encouraging tourism into rural areas that have all sorts of schemes that tend leave large tracts of land as a tinderbox. It’s a recipe for disaster in my view.
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Haven't most fires this year been in standing cereal crops or stubble?

To completely derisk from fire, the best thing would be to grow nothing and keep cultivating just in case. A bit like the middle east and the Sahara is already. Perfectly safe, very hot temperatures and hardly a fire (or human) in sight.
I look around at environmental scheme grass that cannot be mowed till august still stood about 5 feet tall dead and dry.
Fields mown in May, June have enough green regrowth to slow or stop a fire.
Ploughed or cultivated stubbles won’t spread a fire. Those left with ankle deep chopped straw are to say the least , a considerable risk. Combine that with the encouragement for people to “enjoy the countryside” and I’d say we are running a higher risk than necessary. Just my thoughts.
Im not saying brown everything over. A short green cover is best. Management.
 

Humble Village Farmer

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
Essex
I look around at environmental scheme grass that cannot be mowed till august still stood about 5 feet tall dead and dry.
Fields mown in May, June have enough green regrowth to slow or stop a fire.
Ploughed or cultivated stubbles won’t spread a fire. Those left with ankle deep chopped straw are to say the least , a considerable risk. Combine that with the encouragement for people to “enjoy the countryside” and I’d say we are running a higher risk than necessary. Just my thoughts.
Im not saying brown everything over. A short green cover is best. Management.
You are right that bare soil doesn't burn and nor does green stuff. It's the lack of rain and heat which are the real cause. Some people say it's climate change. Long enough in the wrong conditions and everything will burn.

Problem is if you have bare soil and then extreme rainfall following extreme dry, you risk losing more soil. There was at least one field round here with over 6" of topsoil washed down to the bottom corner of a field and it's not even particularly hilly.
 

C.J

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Devon
1660464457307.png



This is Devon Wildlife Trusts management of Ludwell park

Dead grass is an even greater risk when you cut it.
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
You are right that bare soil doesn't burn and nor does green stuff. It's the lack of rain and heat which are the real cause. Some people say it's climate change. Long enough in the wrong conditions and everything will burn.

Problem is if you have bare soil and then extreme rainfall following extreme dry, you risk losing more soil. There was at least one field round here with over 6" of topsoil washed down to the bottom corner of a field and it's not even particularly hilly.
Agree. It’s not as simple as saying leave fields bare. But I can see a fairly immediate and pressing fire risk here. It could be mitigated by a few simple measures.
I think we have had enough warnings of things to come. I don’t think it would hurt to factor wildfire risk reduction into land management strategies going forward if this summer is a taste of things to come.
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
It’s simple stuff really that could save a lot of damage and buy time.
My environment strip along the wood side where I mowed for hay in May is green. Where I left it, it’s long, dead and dry. Looks a real risk now.
Going round fields of chopped straw early morning while it’s damp with a set of discs can create a decent firebreak. A lot easier done before a fire starts. Could save a lot of damage.
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
You are right that bare soil doesn't burn and nor does green stuff. It's the lack of rain and heat which are the real cause. Some people say it's climate change. Long enough in the wrong conditions and everything will burn.

Problem is if you have bare soil and then extreme rainfall following extreme dry, you risk losing more soil. There was at least one field round here with over 6" of topsoil washed down to the bottom corner of a field and it's not even particularly hilly.
Fires happen even when it is cold and in a normal average year. The essentials for combustion are fuel and an ignition source. The fuel is available in increasing abundance the the ignition source seems to have declined in recent years around here, probably due to certain hooligans growing up and mainly less careless smokers throwing lit stubs away.
 

bluebell

Member
its like the age old practice of controlled heather burning on the moors, the "so called experts", are against it? Result is a mass of dry top growth waiting, this time for an uncontrolled fire, it seems to me, that in recent years, the people who make the new rules and regulations, are the young academically trained with all the so called qualifications? but no local knowledge, history or even a connection to the area of the country, they waive the power over, its got to change, same thing happened a few years ago about dreging waterways, so called experts views, demands? were, more important, than locals, who in the case of many old locals have lived in the area all their life, but what do they know over this new lot?
 

Tamar

Member
This summer might be just a one in 50 year event ? Just gives the global warming people that weren't around in 1976, something to get upset about !
No one mentioned global warming last summer when he was raining every day.

I am more worried that no one has increased our water supply capacity in the last few years, yet the population has risen to 70million and people have gone from a shared bath once a week, to showering every day.

Running out of water and food will certainly focus peoples minds on what is really important in life.
 

serf

Member
Location
warwickshire
This summer might be just a one in 50 year event ? Just gives the global warming people that weren't around in 1976, something to get upset about !
No one mentioned global warming last summer when he was raining every day.

I am more worried that no one has increased our water supply capacity in the last few years, yet the population has risen to 70million and people have gone from a shared bath once a week, to showering every day.

Running out of water and food will certainly focus peoples minds on what is really important in life.
Exactly pisses me right off when every feckin weather pattern is climate change / global warming bollox ffs !
 
I look around at environmental scheme grass that cannot be mowed till august still stood about 5 feet tall dead and dry.
Fields mown in May, June have enough green regrowth to slow or stop a fire.
Ploughed or cultivated stubbles won’t spread a fire. Those left with ankle deep chopped straw are to say the least , a considerable risk. Combine that with the encouragement for people to “enjoy the countryside” and I’d say we are running a higher risk than necessary. Just my thoughts.
Im not saying brown everything over. A short green cover is best. Management.
This is miscanthus in September - that ain’t gunna contribute to a wildfire …but it does permanently sequester carbon at over 2 tonnes per Ha annually but does not qualify in any SFI principles. 🤦🏻‍♂️

The 6’4” guy bending down in the picture is cutting a break through 5 months growth with a hedge trimmer prior to creating an access route through.
214CA52F-35D4-4AB5-8DB8-347B8753417E.jpeg
 
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thesilentone

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Cumbria
Never mind net zero by 2050 : that’s a long term policy that will maybe only hold us where we are today in terms of warming, that’s even if we can achieve it globally which seems highly unlikely.

What concerns me more is the next decade.
What measures are being put in place to ensure security of water supplies?
Have we given consideration to holding some reserves of food commodities to get us through a dry couple of years without food becoming unacceptably scarce and dear?
Are we looking at building design to mitigate the effects of heatwaves?
Are we considering management of vegetation to avoid wildfires we see becomg moire prevalent on the continent?
I see no strategy at all for the short to medium term problems we will face. Government seems oblivious to the risks that are in front of us today while messing about throwing money at ELMS and other schemes that do nothing to address the problems we face.
Take rewilding as an example.,From what I’ve seen it seems to increase the risk of an uncontrollable wild fire by leaving dead vegetation in place to become tinder dry. The Forestry Commission has a new policy here preventing locals from helping themselves to brash for firewood. It’s all very well saying it sequesters carbon, which is debatable, but it’s left thousands of acres at extreme risk from fire with all the loss of carbon and habitat that itv would entail.
Management rather than rewilding can help us in my view to mitigate extremes. But I don’t see much of it about. The old ways of hygiene and husbandry came about for a reason. That all seems to have been lost and we will pay dearly for it.
On the money.

How do you get near a wildfire on the top of a mountain ?

How many planes and helicopters have the facility to drop fire suppressant ?

Where are the high risk areas ?

What plans do we have for the future ?
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.0%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 35.1%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,291
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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