Low carbon marketing

[Farmer Fin]

Is anyone on a contract with “green” credentials for cereals? I.e renewables on their farm taken into account etc. I know it probably makes little difference but could this be a point of differentiation?

 

[Brisel]

Quaker have asked about this, who we grow oats for. Nothing worthwhile yet, but I suspect that there is more to come on this. Just a questionnaire about how many miles of hedgerows we have, woodland, tree planting etc.

Do I want to give them all our carbon credentials for a quid per tonne when they might be worth more in the future?

 

[Farmer Fin]

Quaker have asked about this, who we grow oats for. Nothing worthwhile yet, but I suspect that there is more to come on this. Just a questionnaire about how many miles of hedgerows we have, woodland, tree planting etc.

Do I want to give them all our carbon credentials for a quid per tonne when they might be worth more in the future?

Some are asking but no one appears to be paying. Just wandered if there were any dedicated producer contracts paying a bit more. Sounds like no.

 

[Brisel]

Some are asking but no one appears to be paying. Just wandered if there were any dedicated producer contracts paying a bit more. Sounds like no.

I've just reviewed the OatCo/Quaker contract. £1/t premium for the Sustainable Farmng Initiative questionnaire and Cool Tool carbon calculator.

ADM pay a premium for oilseed rape grown to LEAF protocols.

IMO as land managers, natural capital will have a greater value in future. The tricky bit will be capturing that value inside the farm gate!

 

[devonbeef]

Quaker have asked about this, who we grow oats for. Nothing worthwhile yet, but I suspect that there is more to come on this. Just a questionnaire about how many miles of hedgerows we have, woodland, tree planting etc.

Do I want to give them all our carbon credentials for a quid per tonne when they might be worth more in the future?

we have to be so careful not to give this one away, if we don,t get screwed over it has potential to be worth a lot of money.but as always i suspect we will be robbed through it be made a requirement to sell produce.

 

[Farmer Fin]

we have to be so careful not to give this one away, if we don,t get screwed over it has potential to be worth a lot of money.but as always i suspect we will be robbed through it be made a requirement to sell produce.

This is probably where the opportunity lies. Farmers to work together to sell it rather than getting it forced upon us for no benefit and an added cost of doing carbon audits etc. We were “chosen” as a dedicated supplier by one of our malt barley buyers as the rep knew we had wind turbines. It hasn’t made any difference to us financially, although it hasn’t cost us anything either.

 

[Brisel]

This is probably where the opportunity lies. Farmers to work together to sell it rather than getting it forced upon us for no benefit and an added cost of doing carbon audits etc. We were “chosen” as a dedicated supplier by one of our malt barley buyers as the rep knew we had wind turbines. It hasn’t made any difference to us financially, although it hasn’t cost us anything either.

Very much this. It's having a point of difference as a grower in a buyer's market that gets you a niche contract.

This is an interesting tale - Duncan Farrington had to allocate all his renewables and tree/hedge plantings to achieve net zero, along with a few other hoops jumped through. Is his entire farm net zero, or has he just had to put all the C- items into his oil enterprise? https://www.farminguk.com/news/farm...plastic-neutral-oil-in-world-first_55026.html

 

[Brisel]

we have to be so careful not to give this one away, if we don,t get screwed over it has potential to be worth a lot of money.but as always i suspect we will be robbed through it be made a requirement to sell produce.

It will if we let it happen to us. United we stand, divided we fall. We have an opportunity here - either we exploit it or someone else will.

 

[devonbeef]

It will if we let it happen to us. United we stand, divided we fall. We have an opportunity here - either we exploit it or someone else will.

Beavers ,wild flowers, and leasing carbon credits if it pays who cares when they want food they can start paying for it, mean while !!!

 

[Chae1]

Will farmers with grass in rotation using a mixed system including livestock, with muck going back onto land reducing artificial fertiliser use be rewarded?

Can't see a wind turbine put into take advantage of government grant money and high FIT falls into this category.

 

[Farmer Fin]

Will farmers with grass in rotation using a mixed system including livestock, with muck going back onto land reducing artificial fertiliser use be rewarded?

Can't see a wind turbine put into take advantage of government grant money and high FIT falls into this category.

But livestock are killing the planet

 

[Brisel]

Will farmers with grass in rotation using a mixed system including livestock, with muck going back onto land reducing artificial fertiliser use be rewarded?

Can't see a wind turbine put into take advantage of government grant money and high FIT falls into this category.

The devil will be in the detail. If you have ruminants, you'll have their methane emissions counted. Perhaps the protein leaving the farm will count as exporting carbon?? Well managed PP is a great way of sequestering carbon - maybe a certain biomass quantity per acre as a target?

This isn't sequestering much

But this really is

Bonus point for identifying the chap in the hat

 

[farmerm]

The devil will be in the detail. If you have ruminants, you'll have their methane emissions counted. Perhaps the protein leaving the farm will count as exporting carbon?? Well managed PP is a great way of sequestering carbon - maybe a certain biomass quantity per acre as a target?

This isn't sequestering much

But this really is

Bonus point for identifying the chap in the hat

But is it really? Can soil organic matter content be increased indefinitely? It seems unlikely, soil OM is more than just carbon... humus is about 60% carbon and 6% nitorgen, the carbon and nitrogen can be sequestered from the atmosphere but what provides a continuous supply of the other components of humus such as sulpher and phospate? Soil organic matter can be increased but there are real limitations as to how much. In my opinion any carbon less than 2 meters below the surface is not really sequestered carbon at all, it is carbon within the carbon cycle and whilst better in the soil than in the air, carbon storage in soil is fragile and transient.

 

[Brisel]

That's a good question. No, the level of sequestration will tail off depending on what you do with it. Once woodland is mature the same happens. It's what you do with that carbon which is where we need to look beyond soil organic matter. Turn it into a biofuel, animal protein, food carbohydrate and start again without expending too much of it in the processing and re-establishment.

All very wooly when trying to determine a metric to quantify it!

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

The devil will be in the detail. If you have ruminants, you'll have their methane emissions counted. Perhaps the protein leaving the farm will count as exporting carbon?? Well managed PP is a great way of sequestering carbon - maybe a certain biomass quantity per acre as a target?

This isn't sequestering much

But this really is

Bonus point for identifying the chap in the hat

Who, Rob Havard?

Any company looking to "collect" farms Carbon sequestration under contracts top buy and claim it as their own is engaging in sharp practice in my book.

 

[Brisel]

Who, Rob Havard?

Any company looking to "collect" farms Carbon sequestration under contracts top buy and claim it as their own is engaging in sharp practice in my book.

Well spotted. I learned lots about mob grazing systems from Rob.

There is going to be a serious demand for carbon offsetting from other industries, driven by the market and probably government too - we can provide the means of allowing them to pollute the planet with a clear conscience in return for £££.

Sharp practice or not, if we take whatever coins they offer, it's a deal. What they should be doing is to reduce their impact instead of just throwing money at it, but how can Land Rover ever be carbon neutral without having to hire someone else to plant X many trees each year for each car they have built?

 

[Muddyroads]

Carbon offsetting should be banned in my book. If we’re not carbon neutral or negative (which seems to be the case according to the NFU), then let’s sort ourselves out and communicate this to the British buying public.
The only way that global warming will be reduced is by seriously reducing the amount of fossil fuels being burnt. Making people or companies feel better about their emissions by “selling“ them our credits will achieve absolutely nothing.
FFS, we’ll end up with vegan crap being made acceptable as a result of them taking credit for our grassland next!

 

[Brisel]

Try some of the farm carbon audit tools. When you’ve found one that shows your farm as neutral or negative please post the result.

Tillage and fertiliser are very carbon intensive. High output livestock are too. I don’t think conventional or even organic farms have carbon to spare without a lot of trees, uncut hedges and carefully managed pasture.

 

[Muddyroads]

Try some of the farm carbon audit tools. When you’ve found one that shows your farm as neutral or negative please post the result.

Tillage and fertiliser are very carbon intensive. High output livestock are too. I don’t think conventional or even organic farms have carbon to spare without a lot of trees, uncut hedges and carefully managed pasture.

Then how can we have any “credits” to sell?

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Try some of the farm carbon audit tools. When you’ve found one that shows your farm as neutral or negative please post the result.

Tillage and fertiliser are very carbon intensive. High output livestock are too. I don’t think conventional or even organic farms have carbon to spare without a lot of trees, uncut hedges and carefully managed pasture.

The only accurate audit is a personalised comprehensive one. All of the online tools are estimates (of varying accuracy).