WE all know that we will have to cut our carbon emissions over the next few decades. But is attacking British ­farmers really the best way to go about it?

Yesterday, the Committee on Climate Change, which advises the Government on global warming, published its blueprint for what it believes Britain needs to do in order to reach the Government’s target of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

2 Why damage a successful export industry at a time when we need to be looking for new trading partners? Credit: Getty - Contributor

One of its proposals is to increase the woodland cover of Britain from 13 per cent to 17 per cent, which would involve taking more than two million acres of mostly pasture land out of production. In addition, it suggests trying to cajole British consumers into reducing their daily intake of beef, lamb and dairy products by 20 per cent.

If the public doesn’t respond to the health and environmental campaigns, the committee proposes that the Government should dissuade us from eating meat and dairy through “pricing or regulation” such as taxes.

What people choose to eat is their own business, as far as I am concerned. If anyone wants to go vegan, then good luck to them. But I am concerned that we are being bombarded with propaganda telling us to adopt “plant-based diets” for the sake of the planet, without telling us the risks of going wholly vegan.

Who would know, from most of those trying to ram Veganuary down our throats, that a purely vegan diet can lead to a deficiency of vitamin B12, putting people at risk from anaemia and nerve damage?

True, there are people who eat too much meat and dairy but the more you read about veganism, the more you come to the conclusion that the healthiest option is a balanced diet with lots of fresh food and vegetables, as well as some meat and dairy.

The Committee on Climate Change is not quite advocating that we all go vegan but, nevertheless, it is trying to suppress a successful British industry run by incredibly hardworking individuals.



FEROCIOUS COMPETITION

In spite of ferocious competition — some from countries which have markedly lower environmental and welfare standards than we do — British beef, lamb and dairy farmers still manage to produce a high proportion of food consumed in this country.

As a nation, we are very nearly self-sufficient in lamb and milk. Besides feeding our own population, UK farmers in 2017 contributed to the nation’s balance of payments by exporting 124,000 tonnes of beef and 98,000 tonnes of lamb.

Why damage a successful export industry at a time when we need to be looking for new trading partners? Closing down a large part of the UK livestock industry will do nothing to help the planet. All it means is we will end up importing more food from abroad.

UK beef production has a fairly low carbon footprint compared with that produced in many other parts of the world. Most British cows are grass-fed for much of the year. Our climate is near-perfect for raising cattle in this way.

It is a different story in many parts of South America, where cattle are fed all year round on concentrated cereal feed, some of it produced on recently deforested land.

Cattle are blamed for emitting large quantities of methane — a powerful greenhouse gas — but this problem can be dealt with by providing them with dietary supplements such as seaweed, which has been found to reduce methane emissions substantially.

CARBON FOOTPRINT

It doesn’t mean we should stop farming livestock altogether. In any case, many foods popular with vegans have environmental problems of their own. A lot of them only grow in the tropics and have to be imported over long distances, which itself adds to their carbon footprint.

Tofu and other soya-based foods are produced on deforested land in South America. Avocados have been blamed for deforestation and the depletion of rivers in Mexico. Almonds have been calculated to consume eight per cent of the agricultural water supply in California, much of it in the driest areas.

As for quinoa, most of it is grown at high altitude in Peru, on thin soils traditionally enriched by llama dung. But thanks to soaring demand from health-conscious Western consumers, the llamas can’t keep up and the soil is becoming degraded.

Part of the Committee on Climate Change’s plans for reaching zero carbon emissions involves using 57,000 acres of British farmland for “bioenergy” crops. Many people believe that biofuels are the only way that we will ever succeed in decarbonising the airline industry, as battery-powered planes will be impractical for long-haul flights.

If we use biofuels made from waste material, all well and good. Yet growing crops purely for biofuels takes land away from producing food, making us even more dependent on imports.

Pension off cattle

Needless to say, the Committee on Climate Change doesn’t have a single farmer on it, unless you count former Conservative Environment Secretary Lord Deben, who keeps some cattle on his Suffolk estate.

But when you have earned hundreds of thousands of pounds advising green businesses, you can afford to pension off the cattle and replace them with woodland. The committee is happy to attack farming in a way it would never dare attack other industries.

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Can you imagine it saying, “All these Hollywood celebrities emit far too much carbon dioxide, making their films and flying round the world to awards ceremonies. Let’s persuade cinema-goers to watch 20 per cent fewer films”?

Farmers have endured decades of overbearing regulation laying down exactly what they can plant, what they can spread on their fields and how they must keep their animals. Yet still the industry has managed to come out on top.

It does not deserve to be undermined by misplaced efforts to cut carbon emissions.

2 I am concerned that we are being bombarded with propaganda telling us to adopt 'plant-based diets' for the sake of the planet, without telling us the risks of going wholly vegan Credit: PR Handout

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