Scottish farmers urged to make sure on-farm carbon assessments are credible
Scottish farmers looking to complete on-farm carbon audits are being encouraged to select software that fairly represents their farming system to achieve a credible and just assessment.
Under Scotland’s national test programme – part of the Preparing for Sustainable Farming (PSF) scheme – eligible farmers can claim £500 Scottish Government funding for completing a carbon audit using recognised assessment software, including Trinity AgTech’s Sandy.
“It’s brilliant to see the Scottish Government working with farmers and the industry on this vital area, but it's crucial that farmers use the right software for their farm business,” says Anna Woodley, managing director of business development for Trinity AgTech.
“A poor carbon assessment will haunt farmers further down the line and limit the options and opportunities surrounding carbon and wider natural capital.”
Anna says Scottish farmers have been poorly represented by carbon assessment tools to date, which fail to account for differences in farming systems, such as land types or management practices.
“Scotland has the potential to be a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture, but narrow assessments of natural capital are doing farmers a real injustice and hampering their progress and profitability,” she says.
“With Sandy, we’ve been very clear in our objective to build a software that takes into account the differences of farming across the UK and in Scotland, ensuring farmers get credible analytics and robust assessment.”
“Sandy accounts for the specifics of farming and land management in Scotland including my peatland and pastures. I can run the calculations and look at the optimisations myself, without spending thousands on consultants’ fees “
Miles Montgomerie
Farmer, North Ayrshire
North Ayrshire farmer, Miles Montgomerie, decided to use Sandy because it offers a true reflection of his farming system and informs decision making via scenario planning, all while being easy to use.
“I wanted a system which enabled me to quantify all aspects of my natural capital across my two very different estates,” says Miles.
“Sandy accounts for the specifics of farming and land management in Scotland including my peatland and pastures. I can run the calculations and look at the optimisations myself, without spending thousands on consultants’ fees,” he says.
“The opportunities to improve business resilience and profitability through a natural capital lens extend beyond carbon. Farmers therefore need software that allows them to easily manage all aspects of natural capital, including biodiversity and water quality, all in one place,” adds Anna.
She says this will be particularly important when navigating future subsidy support, with natural capital heavily shaping new Scottish agricultural policy.
“As part of Scotland’s new Agricultural Reform Programme (ARP), Scottish Government recently published a detailed road map, cementing Government’s vision for agricultural reform,” says Anna.
“Over half of the future farming budget is set to be targeted towards low carbon approaches and outcomes for biodiversity gain. The accelerates the need for Scottish farmers to take control of their natural capital.”
Farmers who are interested in participating in the PSF scheme and undertaking a natural capital audit using Sandy are encouraged to request a demo with Trinity AgTech.
Detailed eligibility criteria for the Scottish Government’s PSF National Test Programme can be found at gov.scot.