NFU says British farming can help climate crisis
The Union is highlighting how British farmers are working to produce climate-friendly food
The National Farmers Union (NFU) says British farming can be part of the solution to climate change, as the COP26 summit enters its fourth day.
It's 'farmers day' today at the summit in Glasgow, and to mark the occasion NFU is highlighting the work being done by British farmers to produce climate-friendly food.
The industry is working to reach net zero emissions by 2040, with work including new technologies, increasing soil health and planting trees.
A recent report from the union claims farm emissions have dropped by 13% since 1990.
David Exwood is a farmer in Horsham and the South East Regional Board Chairman at the NFU.
He's said: "We manage so much of the land on this planet and this country, and we produce the food. So what we want to see is joined up thinking, a partnership with government on policies on trade and agriculture in the UK and across the world.
"It will be absolute madness but still quite likely that in this country we will plant millions of trees, whilst even for the next ten years there are millions of trees getting cut down in other parts of the world that will produce food that we will then import. Global trade has got to take account of carbon and climate change."
Continuing, David says British farming is already leading the way in reducing the industry's carbon footprint.
He said: "We have solar panels, we are increasing our soil health so we can store more carbon, we use more organic manure so we have mixed farms. You've got a mixed farm system where the animals feed the arable crops and the arable crops feed the animals.
"If all the cows in the world were farmed as efficiently and productively, that doesn't mean intensively but sustainably, as the cows in Britain then we could reduce the number of cows in the world by 200 million."