Increasing production of pulse crops and reducing the amount of imported soya bean meal fed to livestock, could dramatically reduce the UK’s agricultural carbon footprint, bringing a raft of other social and environmental benefits too.
New data presented at ‘From Soya to Sustainability’ in Peterborough last Wednesday showed that 3.4Mt of CO2 equivalent could be saved, cutting the agricultural industry’s footprint by 7 per cent.
The revised figures, from a study by Farm Carbon Toolkit, suggest the potential to cut carbon emissions through better use of home-grown pulses is more than 2.5 times previous estimates.
The reduction can be achieved by increasing pulse production to 20 per cent of the current total area and replacing 50 per cent of the imported soya bean meal currently being fed to livestock. As John McArthur, managing director of McArthur BDC explained, these are the twin aims of the Nitrogen Climate Smart (NCS) project – a four-year, £5.9 million project funded by Defra’s Farming Futures R&D Fund.
McArthur said, “That saving is driven by four main factors – fuel use, synthetic nitrogen fertiliser use, both directly and indirectly, and swapping imported soya bean meal to UK pulses.”
The 17 partner organisations in the NCS project had initially set out to show that the twin aims would achieve a net target carbon reduction of 1.5Mt. But data processed since the project began in April 2023 have revealed the potential gains are far greater than previously estimated.
Philip Lymbery, Global CEO of Compassion in World Farming International spoke about the need for farmers to be part of the solution to climate change.
He said, “There needs to be a change, but don’t pile it on farmers and farming to find a way out and to fund it. We as a society need to get behind the farming community, to get behind the leaders that are bringing together the innovators, and make it happen. Enable them and bring public money forward.”
A route out of soya for livestock sector
Solutions presented by partners in the NCS project included a presentation of research carried out by SRUC, The James Hutton Institute and Agrii.
Lee Truelove, Head of Regenerative Farming at First Milk said the cooperative was working to support the supply chain to find a ‘route out of soya’.
He said, “Is certified deforestation-free soya the end game? I suggest it isn’t. Even if that soy is certified, questions still exist about how it’s grown. We also need to think about ghost acres. It’s all very well being efficient on the farm, but that can be undermined by how many acres somewhere else in the world are needed to supply feed for the cows.”
The alternative was obvious, he said. “We’re talking about UK-grown proteins including beans, and we definitely support that at First Milk.” Feeding trials by First Milk producers have been positive and will be repeated this winter. “We’re going to expand it, but we do think the potential is there. As a dairy cooperative, we’re looking to help the supply chain because we do think there is a route out of soya.”
Jos Houdijk of SRUC said that faba beans were also viable as an alternative to soya for growing pigs and chickens. He said, “If we dehull faba beans we lift the digestibility and the concentration of amino acids, and that gives us opportunity to increase soya replacement potential.”
Arable research
Including legumes in the arable rotation also has the potential to improve other environmental outcomes, said Professor Pete Iannetta of The James Hutton Institute. “It’s not just greenhouse gases. There’s water quality improvements to be gained and a whole host of other benefits.”
Citing NCS research on unique long-term crop rotation data from the ‘Centre for Sustainable Cropping’, which compares spring barley crops that had been preceded by either spring beans or spring barley, he said, “There was a 1.2t/ha yield uplift in the barley following beans, despite synthetic nitrogen fertiliser use reductions in-line with RB209 recommendations. The environmental impact reductions were apparent despite a winter fallow after the beans.
Pulse Pioneers
Oxfordshire farmer and founder of the British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN) Tom Allen-Stevens called for more farmers to sign up as Pulse Pioneers, who are paid to carry out the on-farm trials in the NCS Project.
He said, “This year we have 20 taking part but next year we are ramping that up to 40. Supported by the scientists and other experts in our partner organisations the trials are a real opportunity to find ways to grow better, more consistent crops.”
Sharing that knowledge between Pulse Pioneers, the ‘Pulse PEP’ NCS community and the wider industry, was another large part of the project and The British On-Farm Innovation Network’s (BOFIN’s) role within it.
The conference brought together more than 100 representatives of feed companies, research institutes, farmers and others across the supply chain.
Despite invitations sent to the UK’s major retailers, none were directly represented, a point noted by several delegates during discussions.