Do you know the Carbon Footprint of your farm?
Teagasc and Bord Bia have launched a campaign through the Signpost Programme to create awareness amongst farmers about the carbon footprint for their farm. Farmers are being asked to significantly reduce carbon emissions over the next few years, but to do this they need to know their baseline emissions.
Do you know the Carbon Footprint of your farm?
Over 54,000 dairy and beef farmers have access to the carbon footprint for their farm through the Bord Bia Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme (SDAS) and the Sustainable Beef and Lamb Assurance Scheme (SBLAS), Farmer Feedback Report.
This report gives a farmer valuable insight into their farm’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, the progress being made to reduce emissions and also to benchmark the farm against other farms of similar scale and enterprise. It also allows farmers to identify the main source of emissions on their farm, helping them make a plan to reduce emissions.
Deirdre Ryan, Director of Origin Green commented: “Since 2020, Bord Bia has been distributing the Farmer Feedback Report to farmers as a tool to provide practical guidance and advice to farmers on how to become more sustainable. The aim of this campaign is to highlight the areas of the report that farmers should focus on in order to reduce their carbon footprint. Through articles, webinars, videos, and discussion groups, we aim to simplify the report and demonstrate how it can be used as a tool to guide farmers in reducing their farm emissions. So far this year, over 21,000 farmers have received the report following their audit. Since July, farmers can access their report at any time, online, from the Bord Bia farm portal.”
Tom O’Dwyer, Head of the Signpost Programme, highlighted the Teagasc role in the provision of the farm specific figures: “The carbon footprint figure is calculated using Teagasc prediction models and the farmer’s own data and is provided along with other relevant farm specific information in the Bord Bia generated report. While not an overall farm emissions figure, we believe that it is a useful starting point for farmers to begin to understand the level of GHG emissions from their farm. Ultimately, farmers will have to reduce overall GHG emissions, but they can begin to move in that direction through a focus on reducing their carbon footprint.”
Farmer Webinar, Wednesday, 20 October
An interactive informative online webinar takes place this evening, Wednesday 20 October at 7.30pm. It will guide farmers through using the carbon footprint figure to make decisions on reducing emissions on their farm.
Speakers include; Dr. Eleanor Murphy, Bord Bia will explain the importance of the Sustainability Survey in providing an accurate carbon footprint and talk you through the Bord Bia Farmer Feedback Report.
Seamus Kearney, Teagasc Signpost programme, who will go through the practical actions to take to reduce emissions on farm.
Jack Kearney is a participant in the Teagasc/Glanbia Future Farm programme and is a Teagasc Signpost Farmer. He will outline how he uses the carbon footprint figure to make decisions on reducing emissions on his farm.