Organisations representing the agricultural and horticultural industry in England have launched a joint Greenhouse Gas Action Plan (GHGAP) setting out how the industry will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by three million tonnes of CO2 equivalents from 2018-2022 – the target set for the sector by the UK Government - without compromising domestic production.
The initial focus of the delivery plan is to promote production efficiency, since this will both yield significant GHG savings and result in more robust farm businesses. The plan will also complement other environmental priorities, such as the protection of water resources, soils and biodiversity. It uses existing delivery routes where possible - for example, recently published sector Roadmaps will be important vehicles for changing farm practices to improve production efficiency.
This will minimise the potential proliferation of initiatives, simplify the task of delivery and minimise the duplication of effort across the partnership. Lastly, it sets out how the use of science and technical advice will be improved to influence and motivate behaviour change, and how the partnership will work with Government to develop a means of monitoring progress in the sector over time.
It is envisaged that this plan will be taken forward in three phases, using as far as possible existing initiatives and networks. Specific details are set out for how Phase 1 (2010 – 2012) will be put into practice. The plan will be reviewed and details for the implementation of Phase 2 (2012 – 2015) will be published in 2012.
In Phase 1, particular emphasis will be given to establishing a foundation on which to consolidate further progress. More specifically, the feasibility of an Information Hub (iHub) and how it helps advisors deliver consistent messages will be explored, with a decision about piloting an iHub made in early 2011.
A number of actions to establish a communications strategy are set out that will enable a prioritised approach to how messages are delivered, and to which farming sectors. This will enable finite resources to be used to make the biggest differences in awareness and uptake of on-farm actions.
Finally, a simple governance structure has been established that ensures a strategic approach to prioritised actions set out in this delivery plan, under the joint chairmanship of the officeholders of the CLA and NFU.
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