Global warming and farming - Stuart Luxton issues a plea to buy locally

Global warming and farming 

Stuart Luxton issues a plea to buy locally 

Hello again everyone. As I write, we are most definitely in the winter monsoon season and that is a very polite way of putting it. Luckily all the cattle are in the sheds now, otherwise I think we would be paddling in mud all day. I am currently hoping for a nice dry cold spell.  

I have had such a good response to the pink crash helmet that I now use when riding the quad that you can see it in the photo this month. 

I heard something very sad last month. Apparently there is a fear that circuses will no longer feature performing clowns - the reason for this is that all the best talent has moved into politics. Let’s just hope that our new prime minister isn’t one? 

At the moment I am pretty cross with the amount of bad publicity farming in general is receiving. It would appear on the face of it that cows and sheep are solely responsible for global warming leading to climate change. No mention of air travel, tumble driers or Chelsea tractors. My feeling is that is a massive over-generalisation and simplification of the whole undeniable problem we face. 

Many of the news stories and documentaries recommend that we all give up eating meat and dairy products and become vegans.  

In the UK, 65% of the land is is best suited to growing grass for animals to eat. Some land is so marginal it could never be cultivated, such as Dartmoor.  

In the UK we don't deforest ANYTHING for food. Most of our meat, especially beef, is predominantly grass fed. Grass that builds organic matter (which is carbon) where the animals are part of an ecosystem. 

The biodiversity in the fields is unbelievably high. In 2017 there were 35,000 schemes in place with English farmers boosting biodiversity and enhancing the environment. 

Our meat production is a fraction of the carbon footprint of the global average, approximately two and a half times lower.  A lot of meat production has a lower carbon footprint than many non-meat products like peppers and tomatoes, something most people don't realise - and our welfare standards are world-leading. 

Most importantly foregoing animal products does not ensure a lower carbon impact diet.  

If we were to switch to growing crops where would we get the nutrients? There would be no animals to recycle these so we would need to purchase extra artificial fertilisers and transport them around the world. Use of herbicides and pesticides would also dramatically rise. 

In summary, I don’t want to preach - but whatever your dietary persuasion, please be aware where your food comes from and how it is produced. 

If we eat locally, ethically produced, foodstuffs we are cutting down on the carbon footprint of food miles and supporting our local economy. 

Stuart Luxton