Why is the Uk agricultural industry becoming almost “obsessed by carbon free farming”???

[Pilatus]

I ask the above as the island of the “Uk” is such a pinprick, relative to worldwide agriculture.
Which other countries agricultural policies are so concerned with “carbon neutral farming “ as the Uk is??

 

[gone up the hill]

Grassroots farmers are not concerned with carbon neutral farming!

But the bigwigs in the likes of the NFU are looking for a legacy/ another quango to get a highly paid job on after they leave NFU office who are the ones pushing such unworkable/highly costly schemes on the industry.

 

[Two Tone]

Because the bloody NFU has got involved with the idea. Probably at the Government’s request as usual!

 

[Tim W]

Because people hope they will get govt. payments for it

 

[delilah]

Everyone on here should be telling their local NFU person that 'net zero by 2040' needs dropping now. Doesn't matter if you are an NFU member or not, it is being presented as an industry target so it affects everyone. It may have genuine intentions but it will end up being a stick to be hit with. Ring any bells ?

 

[Daniel]

When the NFU says it's commited to net zero by 2040, what authority does it have to achieve this?

As far as I can see it's none whatsoever. Which probably means they will be trying to get Defra to enforce it on their behalf!

 

[Grass And Grain]

Seems to be NFU pushing Net Zero. Wouldn't put it past them to develop a voluntary scheme, then RT will make it a requirement, then we'll have to pay to join the Net Zero scheme, then we'll be the only country in the world doing it.

Only guessing, but basing the guess on past form. Same with this training thing.

 

[steveR]

I ask the above as the island of the “Uk” is such a pin plonker , relative to worldwide agriculture.
Which other countries agricultural policies are so concerned with “carbon neutral farming “ as the Uk is??

Forget about Spring, the scent of £££ is in the air for our Leaders, and their cronies.... Load of Bollix really!

 

[GeorgeK]

I think carbon neutral is just a buzz word and because carbon accounting is largely unstandardised and unregulated it's fairly meaningless. Any decent accountant poring over carbon accounts as if they were a balance sheet would rightly have a heart attack as numbers appeared, disappeared and changed almost at random.
Got to love buzz words. Put 'smart' in the name of your useless product and get instant press coverage. How's about smart carpets? Linked to the cloud and automatically contact your robot vacuum cleaner when they detect a certain level of dirtiness

 

[teslacoils]

It's trendy. But we will make the minimum adjustments to get the maximum £££.

 

[Stuart J]

Maybe the question should be, why are UK farmers not obsessed with becoming carbon neutral?

 

[BrianV]

Big business now sees lots of money in this, not because it will make a jot of difference to the Earth but simply because it's an easy money stream that gullible people will follow as they think it will make a difference.
Now we start to see big hedge funds blackmailing companies to follow suit & get out of coal & traditional business in the believe it will make their funds far more attractive, pretty soon it will become an unstoppable tsunami that the likes of China will surely exploit.

 

[GeorgeK]

Big business now sees lots of money in this, not because it will make a jot of difference to the Earth but simply because it's an easy money stream that gullible people will follow as they think it will make a difference.
Now we start to see big hedge funds blackmailing companies to follow suit & get out of coal & traditional business in the believe it will make their funds far more attractive, pretty soon it will become an unstoppable tsunami that the likes of China will surely exploit.

Yes carbon trading is tipped to be the next big thing for traders. Turn them into a commodity, speculate, manipulate and earn a fortune

 

[puppet]

Maybe the question should be, why are UK farmers not obsessed with becoming carbon neutral?

Maybe because they already are and are waiting for the science to catch up.
UK ag 11 -15% of total GHGs. Livestock GHG 8%, sheep and cattle 4, almost all of which are methane calculations. Plants and veg 7%.
We will look back at this period as flawed science.

 

[Bogweevil]

I ask the above as the island of the “Uk” is such a pin plonker, relative to worldwide agriculture.
Which other countries agricultural policies are so concerned with “carbon neutral farming “ as the Uk is??

'Pin plonker' whatever that is, surely not, we are global No.32 by value, not bad for a small, cold, dark, wet island where most of the land is peaty, rush-plagued sodden permanent pasture, swathed in drizzle, and by rights should be planted with forest. New Zealand is 42nd, the much vaunted Netherlands is 37 and Ireland is miles away at 87, but to be fair their soil and climate is just as nasty.

Anyway in the real world we either become carbon neutral and more sustainable or the planet and the human race is finished.

 

[milkloss]

'Carbon neutral' is a crazy fad imo. Best way to end up being owned by the Chinese and watch our own country go backwards.

Makes them all feel good though........ buy all this high tech stuff made and the materials to do so in the most carbon and environmentally unfriendly ways possible.

 

[Jackov Altraids]

'Carbon free' is a virtual concept of environmentalism to keep up with virtual currencies and 'virtual' meat.
When you are exhausting the worlds resources you need to create new money streams.
Bill Gates dream is the perfect example of how wrong this is. Pay the big tech companies all your money for a false sense of saving the world while living the same.
The only way to save the planet is to live sustainably and end the mindset of 'growth' being essential.
The trouble is, all those with money may lose out and are willing to spend a lot to make sure it never happens.

 

[SilliamWhale]

'Carbon free' is a virtual concept of environmentalism to keep up with virtual currencies and 'virtual' meat.
When you are exhausting the worlds resources you need to create new money streams.
Bill Gates dream is the perfect example of how wrong this is. Pay the big tech companies all your money for a false sense of saving the world while living the same.
The only way to save the planet is to live sustainably and end the mindset of 'growth' being essential.
The trouble is, all those with money may lose out and are willing to spend a lot to make sure it never happens.

Can growth and better life co-exist?

 

[bigw]

Its being driven by government legislation, we will all know about it before too long.

 

[GeorgeK]

To call it carbon 'accounting' is sacrilege really. Say I complete a carbon audit, my use of ammonium nitrate would be a large portion of my total footprint. At the same time as a major polluter Yara does the same and accounts for their C02 from AN production. So the fert is counted twice? Just one example of the mess carbon accounting seems to be