The Agri Food Comms-Cast (AFCC) unpicks the marketing and communications stories behind the issues facing the food and farming sector. Episode 17 focuses on communicating environmental issues, particularly the challenge of transitioning the livestock sector to net zero.
Lyndsay Chapman, CEO of the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL), introduces their new, independent industry report: Net Zero Carbon & UK Livestock.
This report provides a summary of known research and science on net zero in livestock systems. It delivers an unbiased baseline position for retailers, processors, governments and NGOs to discuss.
Rob Hues, agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries manager at Waitrose joins the discussion. He recently participated in the retailer’s rollout to their farms, aiming to achieve net zero on all its UK farms by 2035.
He agrees that CIEL’s report offers a practical framework that will support positive dialogue and changes in practices.
Both Lyndsay and Rob concur that communicating the practical steps to net zero is a major challenge. However, is shouldn’t be delayed by finding a uniform means of measuring the carbon footprint of any particular farm system. Sharing progress towards net zero, even with diverse carbon footprinting tools, will encourage others to follow.
Both Lyndsay and Rob agree that the farming community shouldn’t wait for the perfect tools for measuring net zero progress; far better to choose a system and make positive progress, even if the comparisons cannot yet be accurately compared and contrasted to farms using other measurement criteria.
