NFU president Peter Kendall has told a major European workshop UK farmers and growers are working hard to reduce emissions and mitigate against climate change in Brussels.
Kendall is chairing the afternoon session of the event run by EU farming union organisation COPA-COGECA. As vice-president of COPA, Kendall led the discussion on how EU food production can be increased significantly to meet growing demand while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and benefiting the environment.
Speaking ahead of the workshop entitled How the farming sector is mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, Kendall said: “Greenhouse gas emissions from the whole of the agricultural sector, including livestock, have already been reduced by more than 20 per cent between 1990 and 2008.
“There are win-win situations to be had but expectations of emissions reductions in agriculture must be realistic. While EU agriculture gradually adapts to climate change we can also improve resource use efficiency in agricultural production. For example, we can store more carbon in vegetation and soils and use bioenergy, and other renewable energy technologies, for self-supply. We can also export energy from the farm by turning farm manures and residues into energy and fertiliser, therefore helping to reduce emissions elsewhere in the economy.
“We are aware that EU farming also has a major production role to fulfil. We need to produce more food to feed nine billion people by 2050. The big question is can we do it? Can we increase our food output sustainably? I believe that a viable agriculture, which focuses on the economic production role of farmers, is the only one way to deliver sustainable environmental benefits and a carbon sequestration process efficiently; especially if research, innovation support, and the different EU policies including the Common Agricultural Policy, provide the right incentives.”
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