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New markets for natural capital look enticing, if not a little intimidating. 4AR explores the prospects and pitfalls for the on-farm innovator.

There’s something unnerving going on when elderly landowners in Wales are cold-called and asked if they’d be interested in selling their farm at an inflated price.

And then farming is feted as the bringer of nature-based solutions, with farmers hailed as Net-Zero Heroes and Climate Change Champions.

The change in the landscape has come about through markets now emerging for carbon and biodiversity which may offer golden opportunities for the on-farm innovator. Equally, there are concerns that those who show their hand too early will suffer fingers burnt as surely as the element that’s found new favour.

“The caution here is carbon – all that glistens is not gold,” notes CAAV Secretary Jeremy Moody. Speaking at a fringe event at the Oxford Farming Conference (OFC), he points out that the carbon market came about through regulation but is itself unregulated.

“There’s a big target for farmers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, currently 8% of UK total, and we don’t yet have the policy to deliver it. That’s a very big ask, and because it’s so big, the farmer needs to control all their carbon.”

Jeremy believes the requirement for new land developments to deliver a 10% biodiversity net gain may hold more promise than carbon as a new income stream for farmers. Enshrined into planning policy, this adds a sum of what may be worth around £5000-7500 per new house built.

Developers may look to outsource this requirement to local farmers or to the natural capital market, he says, which opens opportunities to complement existing farming activities, especially on more marginal arable and improved grassland areas.

But Jeremy voices reservations over trading carbon. “Managing carbon, sequestering it, holding carbon-reducing emissions are massively important. Selling it to other people is counterproductive. Keep your carbon at home,” is his advice.

A different approach is advocated by Richard Williamson, senior managing director of Trinity AgTech. “While caution may be prudent, don’t let this paralyse you into inactivity,” he notes during an OFC fringe meeting.
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