EBLEX has identified four key steps towards a lower carbon footprint on beef and sheep farms, in the latest chapter of its ‘roadmap’ work, launched this week.
And the levy board says all four areas of efficiency improvement can help your farming bottom line as well as the environment.
After interrogating carbon data from nearly 200 farms in England which participated in a survey, either with EBLEX or McDonalds, the Down to Earth report says the keys to a lower carbon farm are:
- Achieving optimum daily liveweight gains
- Selecting for slaughter at optimum weights and specifications
- Feeding good quality grass or ration to maximise rumen efficiency
- Achieving best output per breeding animal.
EBLEX’s third publication in the roadmap series, Down to Earth, was launched this week and includes sections on emissions benchmarking, carbon sequestration, waste in the supply chain and retailer activity, alongside farmer case studies. Farming minster Jim Paice said: “The updated roadmap continues to support the message that enhancing on-farm efficiency can also help to improve the environment.”
Chris Lloyd, EBLEX industry development manager, added: “Once again this work is showing that carbon efficiency goes hand in hand with economic efficiency so improving the areas highlighted will bring double rewards. This is an important message for farmers.
“We have included farmer case studies to get down into the detail of how certain enterprises achieve good results, illustrating to others how good farming practices can foster lower emissions.
“The lifecycle for beef and sheep production is relatively long and we will start to see the results of the work we have been doing to date filter through over the next few years.”
The climate change benefits that livestock farming could bring by storing carbon in pastures and other grassland areas needs greater exploration, says the report. Issues which currently stop the store of carbon in soil being included in the footprinting calculation include the fact that such soil sinks might not be permanent. Whilst such issues are being resolved the Roadmap identifies a numbers of activities that are likely to lead to an increase in soil organic carbon e.g. introducing more legumes into permanent grasslands, incorporating organic materials during cultivations in the establishment of leys.
The report recognises that 90% of emissions in the beef and lamb supply chain occur on farm. However it highlights that there is work to do in the post-farm gate supply chain where reducing the wastage of meat would have the biggest impact in reducing emissions. It has been estimated that 87,000 tonnes of avoidable waste of beef and lamb is lost in the home. Results from the “reducing waste in beef and lamb supply chains” will deliver practical advice to tackle this issue.
- David Hugill - 18/02/2012
well done EBLEX either we lead on this within the Industry or DEFRA will lead on our behalf
- Simon Kenny - 02/02/2012
Another waste of our hard earned money, what about the carbon been wasted on this report, just another example of waste, with rising fuel prices etc the market will have a far greater impact.