The Climate Action Plan 2023, which has been published today (Wednesday, December 21), has endorsed the recommended actions of the two Food Vision sectoral groups.
Both the Food Vision Dairy Group and the Food Vision Beef and Sheep Group published reports earlier this year outlining recommendations to cut emissions in the agriculture sector by 25% by 2030.
Many of these recommendations have been specifically included in the Climate Action Plan.
The measures and key performance indicators (KPIs) are divided between measures to 2025 and then further measures to 2030 (though there is significant overlap here).
The period to 2030 is split into two carbon budget periods; one to 2025 and another from 2026 to 2030. The maximum permitted amount of emissions for the agriculture sector to 2025 is 106MT of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq), while the limit from 2026 to 2030 is 96MT CO2eq.
The plan states: “To meet the required level of emissions reduction by 2025, we [the government] will implement the recommendations from the Food Vision sectoral groupings.”
These measures will include:
- Significantly reducing use of chemical nitrogen as a fertiliser;
- Increasing the uptake by farmers of low-emission slurry spreading [LESS] to 90%;
- Improving how farmers feed their animals by reducing the crude protein content of their feed;
- Increasing the focus on low-methane traits within animal breeding programmes;
- Encouraging processors and farmers to reduce the average age of slaughter to 24-25 months;
- Increasing the resilience of the sector through the integration of climate adaptation considerations in policy planning;
- Supporting livestock farmers’ transition to alternative land uses through the provision of agriculture diversification options including:
- Increasing the level of organic farming to 250,000ha;
- Expanding the indigenous biomethane sector through anaerobic digestion, reaching up to 1TWh (terawatt-hour) of biomethane;
- Increasing the area of tillage to 360,000ha;
- Contributing to the delivery of the land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) targets for afforestation and reduced management intensity of organic soils.
Then, in order to reach the required emissions reduction targets to 2030, the above measures will be built on and added to in the second carbon budget period.
Measures up to 2030
The measures taken to 2030 will include:
- Steps to continue to reduce the use of chemical nitrogen as a fertiliser on farms;
- Continuing to focus on low-methane traits within animal breeding programmes;
- Taking steps to improve how farmers feed their animals by reducing the crude protein content of their food;
- Encouraging a reduction in the average age of slaughter to 22-23 months;
- Support a further transition to alternative land uses through diversification options, including:
- Incentivising an increase in the level of organic farming to 450,000ha;
- Expanding the indigenous biomethane sector through anaerobic digestion (AD), reaching up 5.7TWh of biomethane;
- Supporting an increase in the area of tillage to 400,000ha;
- Continuing to contribute to the delivery of the land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) targets for afforestation and reduced management intensity of organic soils;
- Continuing to increase the resilience of the sector through the integration of climate adaptation considerations in policy planning.
One of the most controversial aspects of the recommendations from the Food Vision sectoral groupings was livestock number reductions.
The Climate Action Plan published today said the government will “mobilise recommendations of the Food Vision sectoral groupings and support land use diversification options for livestock farmers, such as anaerobic digestion, forestry and tillage, to incentivize voluntary livestock reductions”.
More to follow…