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Farmers tackling climate change

  • by JW

Agriculture is responsible for producing a lot of greenhouse gases – and one way is destroying vast areas of forest to grow soya and rear beef:

Our appetite for cheap beef is destroying the Amazon rainforest

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However, there are plans to reduce those greenhouse gases:

Net-zero agriculture by 2050?

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A piece from BBC News looks at more such plans:

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Five ways UK farmers are tackling climate change

Farmers are on the front line of climate change – vulnerable to changes in temperature and rainfall, as well as increasingly frequent extreme weather events.

They also face criticism, in particular over greenhouse gas emissions from the meat and dairy industry, with calls for a move to a more plant-based diet.

Agriculture is currently responsible for about 9% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from methane.

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU), which represents 55,000 UK farmers, has set a target of net-zero emissions in British farming by 2040.

That is not enough for some environmentalists, who say a comprehensive overhaul of farming practices and a move to less intensive production is long overdue.

But some new and surprising changes are happening on the UK’s farms…

1. Sending in robots

2. Using drones to map fields

3. Planting more trees

4. Keeping livestock outside for longer

 

Cows | Free Stock Photo | Black Angus cows grazing in a pasture …

5. Cutting methane emissions

Five ways UK farmers are tackling climate change