– “for net carbon gain, mainly achieved through soil carbon sequestration; biodiversity credits or their equivalent; and income for building social and human capital, hopefully rewarded through a combination of job creation and the development of the farm’s educational platform” [Sustainable Food Trust]
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Farmers are having a hard time – to the extent that many are quite angry, as they are aware of the issues around farming and the environment and are trying to do their bit, but feel they are either not understood or are not getting enough help.
Enabling a country-wide transition to truly sustainable farming can only be achieved if farming in a sustainable way becomes more profitable than the current extractive system. At present, however, if you farm in ways that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase biodiversity and deliver a range of social benefits, you are likely to make less money than if you farm extractively.
I should know – we have just celebrated the 50th anniversary of our arrival at Holden Farm Dairy since when we have been striving to produce food in harmony with nature on our 300-acre mixed organic dairy farm in West Wales. Yet, during this time, there have only been short-ish periods when we made money, notably in the very early days, when milk prices were higher, and then in the golden era of carrot production when, for a brief few years, I was the organic ‘carrot king of Wales’ and demand exceeded our supply.
We went into cheese production in 2007, adding value to our organic milk, which would currently fetch about 40p a litre if we sold it in the wholesale marketplace – probably at least 10p below the cost of production. This is why so many of the small family dairy farms producing milk from fewer than 100 cows have disappeared in recent years.
Even though we are currently producing around 25 tons of cheese a year and tripling the value of our milk by so doing, the high costs involved and our heavy borrowing siphons off much of our net income through interest and capital repayment, meaning that I have needed a day job for much of the last 20 or so years to keep the farm afloat
This is hardly the advertisement one would want to broadcast to the tens of thousands of farmers in this country – and millions throughout the world – who are increasingly concerned by the threats arising from our extractive farming systems, which are damaging nature, releasing greenhouse gases into our atmosphere and producing food that isn’t healthy. If adequate financial incentives were in place, I am certain that the vast majority of farmers would transition, but currently that isn’t the case.
A third income stream for farmers
At present, most farmers in the developed world derive income from two main sources: sales from the food that they produce and government subsidies. This is where the need for a third income stream comes in.
If we are to enable a mainstream transition to truly sustainable farming systems, we need to ensure that it pays. This could be made possible through the generation of a new income stream from so-called ‘public goods’ that farms can, and in some cases already do, deliver. I’m speaking here of the sequestration of carbon in our soils, the increased biodiversity that derives from farming in harmony with nature, along with the wide range of social and cultural benefits, including employment skills and education that farms like ours can deliver.
Although we can hope that the post-Brexit UK farming support schemes are being designed to move in this direction, there is much more that can be done, specifically through leveraging public and private sector financing for the climate, environmental and social goods that farmers deliver alongside their produce.
My hope is that, in a few years’ time, our farm will be able to derive a significant percentage of our farm income at Holden Farm Dairy from payments for net carbon gain, mainly achieved through soil carbon sequestration; biodiversity credits or their equivalent; and income for building social and human capital, hopefully rewarded through a combination of job creation and the development of the farm’s educational platform for schools, business leaders and anyone who needs to learn more about the story behind their food.
More than that, these metrics would enable the people who buy our cheese and meat, vegetables and other staples to preferentially choose foods with a good sustainability score, perhaps represented as a number or maybe by colour coding or barcodes, either way accurately informing citizens about the sustainability impacts of their diets.
Could this really happen? Yes, it could, and it is beginning to happen right now. There may be a long way to go, but I believe that there is real cause for optimism and that this momentum can be accelerated over the coming years.
