Farm Carbon Toolkit launches the first competition of its kind at the Low Carbon Agriculture Show this February. The annual Carbon Farmer of the Year Competition aims to recognise and champion farmers, sector organisations and businesses who are leading the way in adopting farming practices and developing new technologies that are helping to reduce farm emissions while optimising output. Launched today at the Low Carbon Agriculture Show at NAEC Stoneleigh, this is the only competition of its kind to identify and reward farmers, sector organisations, and businesses that are working hard to man ..read more

Low Carbon Agriculture Show returns to the National Agricultural Exhibition Centre (NAEC), Stoneleigh, on 7 – 8 February 2023, with new conference sessions, an inspiring line-up of speakers, and an exhibition featuring the latest agri-tech advances, low emission vehicles and machinery and environmental opportunities for farmers. Trudy Harrison MP, Minister for Natural Environment and Land Use will speak about Government’s plans to support a productive and sustainable farming sector in the keynote session on Tuesday 7 February, and Defra’s Future Farming and Countryside Programme team will be ..read more

On 18th May 2020, Chris Calvert was a panellist on a Kings Chambers ‘Winds of Change’ podcast. The podcast concentrated on matters applicable to that time, climate change, declaration of climate change emergencies by Local Authorities, energy security and the different policy positions across the UK nations. Chris advised that onshore wind in England was the Cinderella of the UK nations. Given the Statement by Michael Gove MP and Grant Shapps MP on 6th December 2022, Cinders may now get to go the ball – we are just not sure how, yet. To recap, onshore wind deployment in England has ..read more

Tackling climate change is now a key driver of Government policy – brought into sharper focus by the post Covid energy crisis and the effects on energy prices of the war in Ukraine. But as well as pursuing the ‘net zero by 2050’ target, Government aim to completely de-carbonise our electricity system by 2035. At the UK level, although our main future power sources will be nuclear and wind, solar will also play an increasing role in the energy mix. Solar PV has already made significant progress in supplying us with electricity. Until 2011 its contribution was negligible. But through support at ..read more

There are big changes ahead which could offer more flexibility and cost savings. The green transition has begun but with the continuation of high energy costs facing farmers, the NFU has placed a strong emphasis on calling for greater energy independence in rural communities. Fourteen distribution network operators (DNOs) nationwide are in control of our local transmission networks and changes are necessary to make improvements and access easier. Jonathan Scurlock, Chief Adviser on Renewable Energy and Climate Change at the NFU, has said: “To ensure a robust, independent system, rooftop solar ..read more

The Munro MK1 electric four-wheel drive off-road utility vehicle will be showcased alongside other low emission vehicles at the Low Carbon Agriculture Show 2023 on 7-8 February, at its first trade event since launching in December 2022. Visitors to the show, taking place at the National Agricultural Exhibition Centre (NAEC), Stoneleigh, will be able to see what Munro says is the world’s first ‘capable’ electric 4×4 vehicle, in the event’s ‘Low Emission Vehicles (LEV) Expo’ exhibition. The agent showcasing the Munro MK1, Off-Road Electric’s director, Marc Monserrat, says that demos will be ava ..read more

Andy Eastlake, Chief Executive, Zemo Partnership, discusses the advancements being made to decarbonise our transport sector, and the impotant role farmers will play…   Low Carbon Agriculture 2023 comes at an important moment as we accelerate down the road to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The Government has already set a 2030 deadline for the phase-out of sale of conventional petrol and diesel cars, and all new road vehicles must produce zero harmful emissions at the tailpipe by 2040. The non-road and mobile machinery (NRMM) sector doesn’t have similar targets (yet) but the writing i ..read more

Susan Twining, CLA Chief Land Use Policy Adviser, is speaking at Low Carbon Agriculture Show in the policy workshop conference session, and discusses the challenge of reaching net zero in this guest blog… We are all familiar with the legally binding government net zero target for the UK economy by 2050. This means that greenhouse gas emissions across the UK economy must be reduced by at least 100% compared to 1990 levels, and any residual emissions offset by removals. So what does this mean for agriculture? A key issue is that the sector is disadvantaged by how emissions are reported. In the ..read more

A new £4.8M project funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to increase biomass crops grown in the UK, will launch at Low Carbon Agriculture Show at the NAEC, Stoneleigh, on 7th February 2023. Biomass Connect is a new initiative that will showcase best-practice and innovations in biomass feedstock production at sites across the UK and through a biomass Information hub. Dr Jeanette Whitaker, Biomass Connect lead and principal scientist in soils and land use at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), says the project is about supporting land ..read more

Environment Bank is setting up Habitat Banks across England in response to Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) being mandated in law. This means we are leasing parcels of land throughout England to create rich biodiverse habitats, which we contract back to the farmer or landowner to manage. We then use these habitats to enable organisations to meet their BNG obligations. Our scheme is already providing a new income stream to many. We are well on our way to establishing over 4,000 hectares of habitats across England over the next few years. Typically, we look to create species-rich grassland, woodland ..read more