Free support tool helps farmers assess their carbon with confidence
21st June 2023
A new carbon decision support tool is being piloted by Innovation for Agriculture (IfA) to help farmers choose the most appropriate platform for assessing carbon on their farm from the growing number of options available.
As part of nationwide efforts to reach net zero by 2050, farmers and supply chain sectors are increasingly expected to take steps towards understanding their carbon emissions, which sparked the idea for developing a tool that can provide a starting point in the process, explained head of technical development at IfA, Stephen Briggs.
“Farmers are under pressure to provide information on the carbon footprint of their business and to show how they are progressing towards reaching net zero emissions,” he said.
Mr Briggs pointed out that there are currently around 35 tools or platforms farmers can use to measure carbon on their farm, which is the first step towards managing and reducing emissions.
“The tools vary in terms of to what extent they ask about livestock enterprises, the management practices they incorporate into their calculations and whether they focus on emissions only or sequestration too, so it’s difficult to know where to start,” he added.
The new carbon decision support tool compares the three most commonly used platforms to measure carbon on UK farms – Farm Carbon Calculator, Cool Farm Tool and Agrecalc. The current pilot version of the tool was produced using funding from FAIRshare and reflects the versions of all three tools as of April 2023.
Through a series of yes/no and multiple choice questions relating to farm management practices and the enterprises on the farm, the tool will determine which tool is the most appropriate for individual farm businesses, explained Mr Briggs.
“It’s essentially a free and independent tool which can help identify which carbon assessment is most relevant to your farm business. It’s worth adding that once you’ve selected a tool and completed a carbon assessment, it’s best to use the same one for any future assessments to ensure the results are comparable.”
Mr Briggs also revealed plans to add more platforms into the tool and keep it updated with any platform updates. He encouraged farmers who are looking into conducting a carbon assessment for the first time to take advantage of the tool to help make the right choice between carbon assessment platforms.
The tool can be accessed via the IfA website here.
