The ability of NI farms to remove carbon from the atmosphere needs to be fully understood before the industry sets greenhouse gas emission targets, UFU president Victor Chestnutt has said.

Speaking at Stormont, Chestnutt was asked by Green Party MLA Clare Bailey why the UFU has not followed the National Farmers’ Union in England and Wales by setting a target to be carbon neutral by 2040.

“We need to correctly measure how our farming is sequestering carbon. We need to know where we stand before we can pick a date,” the UFU president responded.

Chestnutt pointed out that hedgerows, trees and soils remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but the exact quantity of carbon sequestration that takes place on NI farms is still not known at present.

“It’s our ambition to be there as soon as possible. We need to know where we are at and what the journey is that we have to go. That is why we as a union haven’t come out and said we are going to be carbon neutral by ‘x’ date in the future.”

Criticism

The Co Antrim farmer aimed some subtle criticism at the local politicians who are pressing for legally binding emissions targets to be immediately introduced for all sectors of the NI economy.

“Plucking a figure out of the air is very good for headlines but in reality, we need to know what we have to do,” Chestnutt said.