Agriculture accounts for 23% of humanity’s global carbon footprint. In 2017, Scotland’s agriculture and agriculture-related land-use emissions were indeed about 23% of our net emissions, despite the low-carbon claims of some of our meat producers. These emissions were pretty much balanced by the carbon absorbed by our forests. That sounds good but, to put it another way, all the climate benefits of our trees were wiped out by emissions from our farms.
Current farming methods are ‘high-input’, depending on extensive use of fertilisers and pesticides and sterilising the land in the name of efficiency. James Rebanks remembers his grandfather’s tractor being mobbed by flocks of gulls as the plough turned over the rich earth to offer the gulls a feast of worms. Those days are past, but might yet return, as our understanding of soil science helps to inspire a blend of old and new methods – notably returning to traditional crop and grazing rotation cycles to maintain soil health and productivity without the need for artificial fertilisers.
Additional benefits of regenerative agriculture include increased soil carbon content, increased biodiversity, reduction or elimination of artificial fertiliser use, less run-off of soil and chemicals and reduced flood risk because the ground absorbs more water.
Regenerative agriculture
Regenerative agriculture methods are now becoming well understood, and if skilfully done can offer not only food productivity similar to normal farming methods but also decent financial returns thanks to better-quality food and reduced input costs.
Making these changes will take time – a lot of time. Most farmers are deeply sceptical about any new method, with good reason. Margins for food producers are very tight, due to the buying power of supermarket chains, so any change that disrupts their production or increases their costs even for a short period is viewed with extreme suspicion. Few farmers will adopt new methods until they have seen the benefit in their own neighbourhood with their own eyes. The shift won’t happen without a big investment in demonstrator farms to showcase the new methods and educate people about their use.
While the British Government still seems wedded to intensive farming with nature restoration seen as a separate problem, the Scottish Government is encouraging regenerative farming with deeds (and money) as well as words. Scottish farming thus has the potential to become a carbon-restoring rather than carbon-emitting enterprise. A good example of these new techniques is seen at Balbirnie Mains Farm in Fife, one of Scotland’s strategic arable demonstrator farms, with a new generation of innovative farmers and farming.
Agroforestry – another part of the mix
Forestry and agriculture are usually seen as an ‘either-or’ choice. It’s widely assumed that we can do one or the other on any piece of land, but not both. Despite this conviction, techniques such as agroforestry are specifically designed to offer the best of both worlds.
There are various flavours of agroforestry, ranging from simple shelter belts to fully integrated cropping of both forest and food products. Project Drawdown asserts that “multistrata agroforestry can be integrated into some existing agricultural systems; others can be converted or restored to it… Average sequestration rate … is strong, as is financial return“. One interesting form of agroforestry is silvopasture, where animals graze in woodland instead of open pastures. The animals benefit from the trees’ shelter, the overall productivity of the land is increased and more carbon is sequestered in – trampled into – the ground.
Planting densities for agroforestry are lower than for dedicated forestry. Grants are available in Scotland for agroforestry planting at 200 trees per hectare, as opposed to 2,000+ for ‘forestry’. The lower planting density permissible for agroforestry is anathema to serious foresters, because the resulting trees are less regimented, yielding poorer quality timber that is less useful for wood product industries.
Regenerative agriculture and agroforestry – why not?
Why would we dismiss an approach that gives a positive return on investment and helps to solve the climate crisis and repair the damage of sustained neglect and misuse of the land?
One major damper is that regenerative agriculture is likely to be more labour-intensive than industrial farming techniques, a problem for a country with high labour costs such as Scotland. This could potentially lead to higher food prices unless the increased cost is offset by carbon credits and savings elsewhere in the economy. For example, since woodland reduces the costs of flooding and flood prevention, some of those savings could be paid out to farmers who switch to agroforestry.
Another issue is that regenerative agriculture and agroforestry integrate multiple natural components and are at the crossroads of tradition and modernity. Skills are needed from diverse experts – agronomists, animal care specialists, landscape planners, foresters, economists, soil analysts and many more. This diversity of disciplines is a strength but its complexity also represents a challenge, notably in terms of coordination and communication. Scotland has all these skills and abundant local knowledge. If anyone can do this, surely Scotland can.
Indoor or Vertical Farming
Another area where Scotland would seem to have the skills but not, as yet, the ambition, is the field known as ‘Agricultural technology’ or ‘Agtech’. Israel and the Netherlands are current leaders, the latter being involved in ‘the world’s largest indoor farm’, now being built in Abu Dhabi. This will showcase techniques to increase food production in extreme climates, while reducing environmental impact. You can now find British vertically farmed products on our supermarket shelves – though not Scottish, as yet. Let’s hope that will change since the company concerned has a site in Edinburgh.
More in environment.
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