PRISM2030 helps farming family kickstart reducing carbon emissions

There’s no pulling the wool over their eyes – benchmarking was one of the main reasons Emily Gascoigne and her husband Adam Smith signed up to carbon calculation.

Comparing data and encouraging farmers to keep records is a routine part of Emily’s work as a farm vet specialising in sheep, so she was naturally curious about the Programme for the Improvement in Sustainability of (red) Meat (PRISM 2030) initiative, which was launched in November 2022 by ABP UK, one of Europe’s leading privately owned food processors.

The assessment was conducted and the recommendations were delivered by Agrecalc’s consultancy partner, The Andersons Centre. 

Using Agrecalc to unpick the inputs

Together with Adam’s father, Derek, the young farming couple – who have a year-old son George – farm a tenanted holding of 130 acres near Swanage in Dorset. They also rent a further 130 acres on annual licences away from the home farm and additional short-term grazing.

“We have had a small amount of access to Agrecalc before when we participated in a research project, but that was very sheep focused,” explains Emily.

“A whole farm approach was something we really wanted to do; from the sheep and suckler cattle right through to straw, fuel, fertiliser etc – it’s important to unpick the inputs and then have figures to go forward with and use as a benchmark further down the line. Although we love farming, it is a business – not a hobby – and it’s so important to keep an eye on the costs.”

The farm runs a beef suckler herd of 25 cows and 530 breeding ewes, including 340 Romney and Highlander ewes, Poll Dorsets – which autumn lamb – and 40 Hebridean breeding ewes. The main batch of ewes lamb at the end of March, with around 800 lambs going to ABP in nearby Yetminster from August until November. The aim is to send them mostly grass-fed, trying to avoid feeding cereals unless it’s a drought year. It is a closed flock, keeping only home-bred ewe lambs as replacements.

One challenge is that some of the 130 acres of additional land rented on grazing licences is in higher tier stewardship, so working on maintaining performance without using fertiliser is of real interest to the couple.

“We are at the start of our journey with herbal leys, so the grassland management feedback we received was especially useful,” explains Emily, who added that the suckler cows “pretty much look after themselves”. However, having a more preventative strategy with the sheep – seeing problems before they arrive and being on top of parasites – is good for both costs and carbon footprint.

calves with mum in the field

“A whole farm approach was something we really wanted to do; from the sheep and suckler cattle right through to straw, fuel, fertiliser, etc. - it’s important to unpick the inputs and then have figures to go forward with and use as a benchmark further down the line. Although we love farming, it is a business – not a hobby – and it’s so important to keep an eye on the costs.”

Practical recommendations delivered by consultants

Finally, the couple did a double take when the Agrecalc study flagged up a high quantity of fuel usage.

 

“We breathed a sigh of relief when we realised that I hadn’t split off the fuel Adam uses for his contracting work from the farm calculations,” smiles Emily. “Other than that, there were thankfully no other great shocks.

“We are at the start of our carbon emissions journey and having the baseline that PRISM has given us is really useful.”

The farm’s Agrecalc report, delivered by Michael Haverty, Partner and Senior Research Consultant at The Andersons Centre,  considered all aspects of the business and how it is managed, generating calculations that then allowed practical recommendations for improvement, to be made. 

Recommendations included: 

  • Reduce bedding by 4-6%. Consider shed ventilation and ensure that water and urine runs away from the bedding. Consider increasing frequency of bedding down in order to keep a fresh clean bed under stock.
  • Aim to reduce fuel by 4 – 6%. Check tyre pressure on machinery and regular maintenance to ensure all machinery is as efficient as possible. Ensure that any “idling” of machinery is minimised as these costs can become significant over the course of a year.
  • Consider forage analysis whilst formulating feed ration. This will maximise feed conversion rate and growth of cattle and sheep and possibly reduce reliance on purchased feed if home grown forage can be produced at a high quality.
  • Consider increasing re-seeding of older pastures, this should increase grass productivity and quality aiding in reducing purchased feed and fertiliser. Focus on reseeding with multi species leys (including clover, trefoils, sweet clover and red clover) to increase pasture grown per ha and decrease reliance on bought in feed. An increase in yield of 1 tonne of dry matter grown per hectare is achievable on most farms with this approach. Consider reseeding a minimum of 10% of the grazing area each year.

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