The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has welcomed the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) new report ‘A Well-Adapted UK’ , which was published today (Wednesday, April 20) and outlined what can be done to tackle climate change while safeguarding domestic food production.
With extreme weather events expected to increase in frequency and intensity, the NFU said that many farmers and growers are starting to build their on-farm resilience with practices, such as installing solar panels and shifting to different crop varieties and soil types.
While farmers and growers are making progress on their own, the union also called upon the government to take onboard the recommendations outlined within the CCC’s new report.
The NFU highlighted many of the report’s recommendations to the government, including the need to remove regulatory barriers that prevent farmers adapting their businesses, providing incentives to adapt practices and giving farmers and growers access to the skills and training they need to help drive change.
NFU
NFU deputy president Paul Tompkins said that farming has become “increasingly challenging in the UK” due to the impact that changing weather patterns are having on crop yields, farm incomes and long-term business confidence.
In addition to climate change, Tompkins highlighted that confidence among farmers has also dwindled as a result of the growing geopolitical uncertainty, with the wars in Ukraine and the MIddle East resulting in rising costs for fuel, fertiliser and energy.
“We welcome the CCC’s recognition of how extreme weather impacts farming and agree that we can still grow domestic food production, but only if government helps farming adapt now.
“That means backing on farm water storage, dynamic water abstraction, soil resilience, lowering disease prevalence and removing barriers to growth.
“This report emphasises our long-term ask that government must continue to work hand-in-hand with farmers to target investment in adaption as well as food production and the environment so our members can continue to produce food in a changing climate,” the NFU deputy president added,