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Green Grains - Why is there no market yet?

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There is so much talk about carbon at the moment, and there is no doubt that farmers will make some income by changing practices to sequester a bit more carbon. Buying HVO versions of Red Diesel is just an example of a way to do this. It costs you a little more to fill the tank, but the costs are outweighed by the carbon you save. But I think carbon is the sideshow. Carbon could be worth £90 a hectare, maybe a bit more, but imagine if you could get an extra 10% on your sale price for your certified carbon neutral “green” wheat. At today prices that’s over £200 a hectare for many farmers. And looking at the market as it stands right now, 10% is a conservative estimate.

Carbon neutral fuel is currently 80% more expensive. Energy saving lightbulbs were 400% more expensive when they first were released. Equally carbon neutral electricity is now offered at the same price in a mature market. The NFU has told everyone that we will be carbon neutral by 2040. By then, roughly half of farmers need to be sequestering in order to balance out the other half. Therefore, farming will always have the concept of carbon neutral products and those that aren’t This may well be arable balancing out livestock, but not all arable farms will get there (or want to get there). This creates and maintains a market that does not exist right now.

Speaking to the supermarkets and the fuel companies, this is the thing they are most excited about. More than buying the carbon offsets, being able to buy green in the first place. However, that just leaves the mills in the middle. They have zero interest in this so far, as processing grain whether green or not, makes little difference to them. But it does matter to the end customer and that is who buys the food we produce. The regenerative story is like catnip to housewives who shop in Waitrose and M&S. That means they day isn’t far off when Waitrose say they are only sourcing grains from certified regenerative agriculture farms. Are you ready though?
 

How is your SFI 24 application progressing?

  • havn't been invited to apply

    Votes: 29 34.9%
  • have been invited to apply

    Votes: 17 20.5%
  • applied but not yet accepted

    Votes: 29 34.9%
  • agreement up and running

    Votes: 8 9.6%

Webinar: Expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer 2024 -26th Sept

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On Thursday 26th September, we’re holding a webinar for farmers to go through the guidance, actions and detail for the expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer. This was planned for end of May, but had to be delayed due to the general election. We apologise about that.

Farming and Countryside Programme Director, Janet Hughes will be joined by policy leads working on SFI, and colleagues from the Rural Payment Agency and Catchment Sensitive Farming.

This webinar will be...
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