Region’s farmers need gov’t cash to reach ambitious ‘net zero’ target
Written by Kyoka Omori on 27th September 2024
Sheep farmers at Wolsingham agricultural show, in Weardale, County Durham.
THE North East’s 10,000 farmers need financial help to achieve the government’s net zero target, says their trade union.
The last government set the goal of farming achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 – 10 years ahead of the legally binding net zero goal for climate change of 2050, set out in the 2008 Climate Change act.
Farming is responsible for roughly 12% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, but the net zero project has been left to individual farmers, who face the pressure of having their progress monitored and recorded.
A farmer preparing to sow his fields in early spring time.
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) says the previous government did not invest sufficient funds to help its members, while it says the current government is trying to cut £100m from the industry’s £3.5bn-£5.6bn annual funding.
Tom Bradshaw, NFU president, said: “Net zero is never going to be an ambition farmers can deliver alone.”
The North East region employs about 25% of the country’s entire agricultural workforce, with 10,123 farmers and farmworkers listed in the region in the government’s official figures for 2023.
With its huge areas of rural countryside, the region is home to 4,260 farms, covering a total area of 622,123 hectares and with the largest average farm size in England, at 146 hectares.
