Happy marriage for low carbon and profitable livestock farming

Livestock farmers have been a popular scapegoat in the press when it comes to climate change, but new research shows that farmers should now be on the front foot when it comes to discussing a sustainable future for the industry. With beef producers who cut their greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) able to see improved returns of up to 50p per kg in their financial margins and sheep farmers benefitting by 28p, the business case for low carbon livestock is better than ever.

In the industry we’ve always felt that the relationship between commercial performance and environmental performance was a good one, but for the first time we are able to back up our logic with numbers. After all it’s tricky to manage what you can’t measure! This quantification is one of the key areas of study in Testing the Water – The English Beef and Sheep Production Environmental Roadmap – Phase 2, published by EBLEX.

It’s not just about emissions either. The report includes the first reliable water usage footprint for the beef and lamb production industry, estimates the industry’s contribution to the landscape and biodiversity in England, and takes a snapshot of the energy and waste performance of the processing sector. Key findings included that it only takes 67 litres of blue water* to produce 1kg of beef, and that beef and sheep farming contributes an estimated £1.494 billion in value to our rural landscapes and £1.288 billion to biodiversity value.

The report makes it clear that there is real potential for a greener more sustainable livestock industry in the UK and that ultimately this is going to be good for the bank balance too. The old ‘win-win’ or even ‘win-win-win’ line that seems to get readily rolled out these days springs to mind! However this is by no means a closed book. The data on which these results are based is still limited and while we now have a better handle on what’s good, we need to get to a point where these results are good enough to start affecting future pathways in the development, rather than curtailment of the sector (in the UK). In particular much more needs to be done on establishing the baseline for our carbon footprint and the steps that can be taken to reduce it.

With pressure mounting on the environmental performance of farming at a time, when the profitability of farming is stymieing re-investment in the efficiency of businesses and a new generation of farmers, this research comes as welcome news. Most importantly however it provides a unique climate change reference guide for those looking to question the future of livestock farming in the UK. Eblex plans to complete the ‘trilogy’ through developing some future scenarios for livestock production in the UK, later next year.

* blue water is water that could reasonably be used for other purposes, e.g. taken from the piped supply.

Duncan Pullar is the Head of Research and Development at Eblex and Interim Sector Director of DairyCo.

Do you have any thoughts about the implications of this research and how it might be used to best effect? Please get in touch with the Farming Futures team or post a comment below.