Neil Parish, MP for Tiverton and Honiton and Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Beef and Lamb, has marked the launch of the Group’s report into “The carbon footprint of the beef cattle and sheep sector” with an event held in Parliament on the 6th June and attended by MPs, Lords and representatives from EBLEX, the organisation for beef and lamb levy payers in England.
Amongst the Members of Parliament attending meeting were Mary Creagh MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and Sir Jim Paice MP, former Agriculture Minister. The report follows a four-month inquiry undertaken by the APPG to examine methodologies currently used to calculate the carbon footprint of the beef and lamb sector in the UK and globally; and how this data is used to inform measures being taken to reduce emissions. The report reveals the need for more robust scientific data and calls for a standard model to measure carbon sequestration to help the beef and lamb sector meet the twin challenges of sustainable food production and reducing its environmental impact. While acknowledging the positive environmental impacts that grazing livestock bring, the report reveals the need for more robust scientific data and calls for a standard model to measure carbon sequestration to help the beef and lamb sector meet the twin challenges of sustainable food production and reducing its environmental impact.
Speaking at the event Neil Parish said: “Grazing cattle and sheep are often given disproportionate blame for carbon emissions from the agriculture sector and there is not enough recognition amongst some conservation groups of the role livestock farming, particularly grass-fed beef and lamb, plays in storing carbon, protecting biodiversity and utilising marginal land that cannot be used for arable crops but can grow very good grass.
“Without some form of universally recognised model for measuring livestock carbon emissions there can be no real understanding of its causes, its effects and how we make food production sustainable for the future.”
Photo: Neil Parish MP with EBLEX sector director Nick Allen (left) and EBLEX chairman John Cross (right).