Defra's deputy director of livestock says the sector has the opportunity to be part of the solution on climate change.
In a message that echoed the NFU, Andrew Robinson said: "Feeding the world sustainably is a big challenge. Doing it in a sustainably intensive way is the way forward."
The Defra official was speaking at the British Cattle Breeder's Conference in Telford and outlined the ways in which farming was already making inroads to help the government meet its greenhouse gas targets.
"Evidence shows that genetic cattle improvement over the past 20 years for milk yield and fertility has delivered a reduction in GHG emissions intensity from the dairy industry. However, reductions in beef and sheep cattle GHG emissions through better breeding have been considerably smaller."
He highlighted the Greenhouse Gas Action Plan, the product ‘roadmaps’ that have have been drawn up in the beef, sheep and dairy sectors and the BPEX two-tonne sow initiative as further examples of industry clamping down on climate change.
Mr Robinson also spoke about the implication of CAP reform for the livestock sector.
He said the greening of direct payments, the capping of SPS payments and the definition of an 'active farmer' would be key during upcoming negotiations. He added that the new rural development regulation would also impact the sector.
- Defra has invited views on the CAP reform proposals by 5 March. For more details see the Defra website or click here to go to the NFU's CAP channel.
- sw - 24/01/2012
Hmm. Sustainable intensification sounds somewhat (oxy)moronic. Sustainability is classically defined as focus on wellbeing, equity and envrionmental protection as part of a hollistic, rather than purely economic approach. I'm not entirely certain how this aligns with ramping up the intensification of animal production for profit alone, at the expense of animal welfare, farmer's welfare and the local environment. Does cutting carbon at the expense of everything else (except profit) seem just a tad worrying?