Sustainable farming and net zero – a long way to go

What would sustainable agriculture look like? It would be zero carbon consumption or better, deliver food sustainably whilst preserving and enhancing natural capital (including the soils and the peat), offset carbon emissions elsewhere, and pass the assets on to the next generation in good shape. What we have now is no carbon price, no carbon border adjustments, and no overall plan for land use, including carbon sequestration. Agriculture is the largest carbon emitter relative to size in the economy. We have a bottom-up, case-by-case approach, with ELMs (Environmental Land Management schemes) in England and a voluntary carbon offsetting market that looks like the Wild West. There is a chasm between what is going on and net zero. The scope for improvement is correspondingly vast and the time is short – just 28 years to net zero. Creating a green and prosperous agriculture requires a step change, with credible offsetting, credible public goods funding, and polluters being made to pay. All are perfectly achievable and economically efficient, but not if we continue with the current timid approaches.