Part of the debate – in Westminster Hall at 5:15 pm on 25 March 2009.
Jane Kennedy
Minister of State (Farming and the Environment), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
5:15,
25 March 2009
Now we have got that clear.
My hon. Friend has raised a pertinent, important and challenging subject not just for the agricultural sector. Climate change is a challenging issue across the British economy, particularly at a time when the economy is under such pressure from other reasons—the global pressures on our economy—that we now know about all too well. We must not be pushed off this important agenda. It is important that we continue to focus on the factors that impact on climate change.
My hon. Friend mentioned the Food Futures report. Another study has estimated that across the European Union, total food consumption and production—not just livestock and meat production—accounts for between 20 and 30 per cent. of our climate change impacts. Our national inventory of greenhouse gas emissions tells us that the whole agriculture sector contributed about 7 per cent. of our total greenhouse gas emissions in 2006. About half that 7 per cent. comes from the livestock sector. Worldwide, as my hon. Friend quoted, livestock accounts for around 18 per cent. of greenhouse gas emissions.
Farming has a unique place in our country's way of life. We often say that farmers are the guardians of the countryside. They are part of our national identity. Perhaps most importantly, they help to feed us. Tim Farron was right to say that the more local food we eat, the better in terms of air miles. Occasionally, however, there are instances such as the recent change in the availability of carrots, when we had to import carrots because of poor weather. I shall say in a moment that farmers are on the front line and are the first to be affected by climate change. A balance must be struck to ensure that growth and production are sustainable not only in tackling climate change, but in the circumstances facing all sectors of British business, particularly farming, which is my Government responsibility. Farming is on the front line and is the first to feel the effects.
Climate change is one of the most important challenges facing us. The Climate Change Act 2008 commits us to an 80 per cent. reduction in all greenhouse gases by 2050. That is a challenging target, but all sectors of the economy, including the livestock sectors, must play a part in helping to meet the target. Some progress has been made, and between 1990 and 2006 emissions from the livestock sector declined by 18 per cent. due to a decline in emissions from enteric fermentation, agricultural waste disposal and agricultural soils. There is a risk that reducing direct emissions from agriculture could reduce UK production, with a resulting increase in food imports, thereby simply exporting our emissions and perhaps even increasing them. We are aware of that risk, and we want to ensure that UK agriculture improves its environmental impact without becoming less productive. We must assess the full impact of any measures to reduce emissions, to ensure that we do not simply export the problem and that action to reduce greenhouse gases does not conflict with other environmental goals.
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Lotus Pearl
Posted on 19 Apr 2009 1:25 pm (Report this annotation)
"Farming has a unique place in our country's way of life. We often say that farmers are the guardians of the countryside. They are part of our national identity."
'[....] Some of this land has been acquired through expropriation. This is as true in the third world today as it was centuries ago in the over-industrialized nations. Large numbers of poor people have been imprisoned, made homeless, killed, or have starved as a result of big landowners expropriating land for pasture. The same sort of expropriation has occurred, although not on the same scale, to provide grains for livestock Animals in the over-industrialized world. ....' http://www.geocities.com/carbonomics/MCsppub/11sp12/11sp12b....
'Farmers manage over 75% of the total land area of the UK. ... ' http://www.grainchain.com/11-to-14/farming/the-wheat-busines...
'Around 37% of the land on agricultural holdings is considered to be croppable land, i.e. land currently under crops, set-aside, bare fallow or temporary grass. Almost half of this croppable area is occupied by cereal crops. Horticultural crops (including vegetables, orchards, soft fruit and crops grown under glass) account for just 1% of the area on agricultural holdings. Permanent grassland and sole right rough grazing accounts for 57% of the area on agricultural holdings - see Figure 1.
Cereal crops 17% Other arable crops 8% Horticultural crops 1% Fallow land 1% Set-aside 3% Temporary grass 7% Permanent grassland 33% Sole right rough grazing 24% Woodland 4% All other land 2%
Figure 1: A breakdown of the total area on agricultural holdings as at June 2007 ..' http://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/statnot/june_uk.pdf
'Ancient woods are those where there is believed to have been continuous woodland cover since at least 1600 AD. .. The importance of ancient woodland
As the terrestrial habitat most representative of original, natural, stable conditions, ancient woodland is home to more threatened species than any other habitat in the UK. This is supported by the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, which identifies that broadleaved woodland supports almost twice as many species of conservation concern as any other habitat e.g. more than twice as many as chalk grassland and almost three times as many as lowland heathland3. .. Our remaining ancient woodland covers less than 2 per cent of the UK, and is irreplaceable. .. Ancient woodland under threat
Ancient semi-natural woodland disappeared at an alarming rate during the last century. Nearly half the ancient woodland remaining in the 1930s was either cleared for agriculture or converted to plantation7. .. Increasingly our ancient woods are small islands within a hostile landscape of intensive agriculture and urban sprawl. .. Most may also be too small to sustain healthy populations of many woodland species, and too isolated to allow migration, particularly given that many ancient woodland species are relatively immobile. As climate change accelerates, species that are unable to relocate to occupy suitable climate space may face local extinction11.
More species have become nationally extinct in the last 100 years from broadleaved woodland than any other habitat (46 species), and it also has the most globally threatened and rapidly declining species (78 species)3. The Institute for Terrestrial Ecology’s Countryside Survey 90 showed that between 1978 and 1990 losses in species richness of woodland (14 per cent) from plots located at random exceeded that for all other semi-natural habitats. ..' http://www.woodland-trust.org.uk/campaigns/briefingsmore/anc...
'SEVEN STOREYS OF ABUNDANCE; A VISIT TO ROBERT HART'S FOREST GARDEN ......' http://www.spiralseed.co.uk/forestgarden/page2.html