Boortmalt and BASF are working with Irish farmers to reduce their emissions and record and verify those emissions.

Boortmalt will recommend carbon reduction practices to farmers to implement as part of BASF’s global carbon farming programme.

BASF will compile data using a digital platform, which will meet requirements of the world’s major carbon certification bodies.

A press release from BASF said that this will enable barley growers to generate accredited carbon certificates to be able to trade carbon.

This of course would require farmers to increase carbon sequestration on farm.

Carbon credits

Teagasc research is showing that many Irish tillage farms are carbon neutral and many may be carbon positive.

However, the Irish Farmers Journal understands that carbon credits cannot be counted twice, so this would require a change at Government level in Ireland, as, at present, carbon sequestration from agriculture is accounted for in the national inventory.

Results from the programme will be reported in 2023.

Boortmalt plans to purchase the generated certificates and the barley produced with lower carbon emissions to lower the company's carbon footprint.

The barley will be malted and then distilled by Waterford Distillery to produce whiskey with a reduced carbon footprint.

It will certainly be a positive to be able to print the carbon footprint on a bottle of whiskey and will add value to products.