Webinar discusses how farming carbon can be the new ‘crop’ for land managers

Written by William Kellett

Farming carbon was a hot topic at the Low Carbon Agriculture show online on March, 9 and March, 10, where carbon was discussed as a new “crop” for land managers.

“Carbon will be a new income stream to build into farm businesses,” said Stephen Briggs, head of soil and water at Innovation for Agriculture, speaking in the Carbon Storage and Management conference session.

Also speaking at the show was Mark Broadmeadow, the Forestry Commission’s principal advisor on climate change, who said that planting trees needs to fit in with the farm business.

He added that if you are creating woodland with the ambition of selling carbon on the open market, it’s important to register with the Woodland Carbon Code (WCC) at the beginning so you can secure benefits in future.

He explained:

Through the Woodland Carbon Guarantee, the government guarantees a minimum price that it will pay successful bidders, but there is no obligation for the contract holder to sell to government if the open market will pay more.

“Or you may wish to use the carbon for your own business emissions accounting”.

Understanding your carbon footprint


Jonathan Smith, director at the Farm Carbon Toolkit, said that getting ahead and understanding your footprint is now crucial.

You can’t manage what you don’t measure and carbon footprinting your farm allows you to see it from a different perspective.

The Low Carbon Agriculture show online was held in association with the National Farmers’ Union and supported by key organisations from across the farming sector.

David Jacobmeyer, show organiser, said: “The audience was nearly entirely (95%) made up of agricultural and rural business owners interested in renewables, environmental best practices and mitigating climate change.

“We were very pleased with the digital platform, the level of interest in the rebranded show, the general engagement and content, and the conference was referred to by several visitors as ‘the best ever’’”.

Stuart Roberts, NFU deputy president was a panelist in the ‘Reaching Net Zero in Agriculture’ debate and was positive about the show.

Like others I thought it was an excellent session and the retention of viewers was really good.

“We have all done these things where the audience numbers start to drift off after a while. Really well chaired and organised and thanks for letting us be part of it.”

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