The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has published a plan to achieve its target of net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture in England and Wales by 2040.

According to the NFU, if its range of proposed measures are implemented and achieve the predicted results, the plan would go beyond its original target and would completely offset GHG emission from farming across the whole of the UK.

It is based on government figures, which indicate total GHG emissions from UK agriculture equate to 45.6m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year (MtCO2/year). The NFU has proposed a broad range of measures, which it estimates could lower emissions by 46.5 MtCO2/year.

The main reduction in emissions under the NFU plan comes from developing bioenergy and renewables, where 26 MtCO2/year is offset.

Increasing productivity on farms by effectively producing the same amount of food from less inputs could lead to GHG savings of 11.5 MtCO2/year, while farmland carbon storage could remove another 9.0 MtCO2 of GHG.

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