Group to look at carbon neutral challenge for Welsh agriculture (From Western Telegraph)

Group to look at carbon neutral challenge for Welsh agriculture

1:30pm Thursday 5th February 2009 in

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A new group is being set up to see how farmers can produce more food while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Wales land use climate change group will consider how the agriculture industry can work towards food security and become carbon neutral by 2020.

Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones said: “Climate change remains one of the biggest challenges facing our generation.

“How we manage our land will play a critical role in cutting greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change.

“I want Wales to be a vital food producing area that makes a contribution to meeting the challenge of world food security, but our challenge is to increase food production in a way that places less strain on the environment, while ensuring that we have strong and viable businesses.”

If farmers adopted current best practice, agricultural emissions could be reduced by up to 10% Elin Jones added: “The Wales Land Use Climate Change Group will look at how agriculture and land use can adapt to climate change, looking at impacts, and how to respond in terms of opportunities as well as threats.

“Options for reducing emissions have been identified and the group will assess these and look at other options to make significant cuts.”

The group will meet for the first time in March and its immediate aim is to produce a discussion report by the autumn advising on new actions to help deliver a 3% annual reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and help Welsh agriculture become carbon neutral by 2020.