Farming For a Better Climate

Séamus Murphy and Robert Ramsay take a look at the beef sector, and how farmers are building in resilience and on-farm efficiencies. 

SAC Consultant and Farming for a Better Climate facilitator for the Soil Regen Ag Group, Zach Reilly joins Séamus Murphy and Robert Ramsay to talk about some of the pressures on the arable sector in terms of commodity prices, and discusses how adopting or modifying regenerative ag techniques could benefit soils and consequently yields on some farms.

Farming for a Better Climate podcast hosts Séamus Murphy and Robert Ramsay are joined by Senior Consultant Jennifer Struthers to talk about the sheep sector and scope for improving efficiencies, touching on the balance between carbon and biodiversity.

In the first of our sector-focused series, SAC Consultant George Chalmers joins regular hosts Séamus Murphy and Robert Ramsay to give us a snapshot of activities in the pig sector over the past year, and how pig producers are working to improve on-farm efficiencies.

Image Credit: ScotGov Rural - afrc.es.18.4.14 (10) | Large White x Landrace Pigs. Traquair… | Flickr

In this episode Seamus Murphy and Robert Ramsay speak to SAC Consultings Iain Boyd about the current energy crisis, how we got here and what farmers can do in terms of reducing energy requirements. The discussion looks at the benefits of getting renewables on farm today and what the future may hold for on farm energy generation touching on battery storage and hydrogen. 

In this episode the focus moves from carbon markets to the wider policy and market driver for carbon related work on farms. Robert Ramsay and Seamus Murphy speak to Consultant Alex Pirie about a range of issues, the discussion touches on current and future agricultural policy, the importance of the carbon audit and how market drivers and aligned contracts will contribute to a changing industry. 

In this episode Seamus Murphy is joined again by Robert Ramsay and specialist John Farquhar to discuss the reasons why there is growing interest in carbon markets in agriculture. They discuss why companies are looking down their supply chain to reduce emissions and also as a means of offsetting. They also touch on what that might look like for farming in the future.

Carbon markets are becoming more common in land use and the potential for farmers to benefit financially from carbon offsets is an opportunity many farmers are looking into. In forestry carbon markets have been long used to help financially support project creation and in this podcast Seamus Murphy and Robert Ramsay speak to Forestry consultant Ben Law about what carbon markets are and how they work.

In this Episode Agricultural consultants Zach Reilly and David Ross speak about the positives of reduced tillage from a soil, financial and carbon perspectives. They also highlight some of the challenges of incorporating such a system and look at what practical steps can be taken to start on a pathway to reduced tillage and regenerative agriculture.

As interest grows in tackling the climate crisis globally and with COP26 coming to Glasgow in November Scottish farmers are becoming more aware and interested in carbon and the challenge of net zero. With all the talk focusing on reducing emissions it can be easy to forget that climate change is already upon us, and adapting your business to our changing climate is vital for a sustainable future for Scottish agriculture. 
In this episode Séamus Murphy speaks to Environment consultant Iain Boyd and Anna Beswick of Adaptation Scotland about what the impacts of climate change are going to be on Scotland and Scottish agriculture. The podcast focuses on what can be done now to build resilience into current farm businesses to ensure a sustainable future. The recent SAC Consulting publication 'Climate change adaptation for agriculture Is your farm ready?' is discussed heavily.