Webinar - Carbon Sources & Sinks, Global Livestock Systems - Measuring & Managing Livestock Farms Towards Net Zero
Webinar on the 24th of October 2023 at 2 pm (CET).
This webinar will outline the journey and results of a pioneering carbon project in Northern Ireland which has demonstrated that farms can make structured progress towards Net Zero. Under Northern Ireland’s Climate Change Act (2022) businesses must cut emissions by 48% before 2030 and make a 100% reduction, or reach Net Zero, by 2050. Agriculture in Northern Ireland is key to those targets as the largest contributor to its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, accounting for about 27% of the total output. Because of this figure, NI farmers have been a major focus for policymakers, campaigners and the media. However, these groups have persistently overlooked the fact that, unlike other sectors, agriculture has a capacity to capture, manage and store carbon. (ARCZero) was a European Innovation Partnership project made up of seven farms in Northern Ireland along with AgriSearch, Queen's University and Devenish. It sought to measure and manage carbon flows at the individual farm level to empower farmers to make positive change towards carbon zero farming. At this webinar ARCZero Chair Professor John Gilliland will outline the pioneering work done by the projects and the results to date.
Speaker: Professor John Gilliland
A former President of the Ulster Farmers’ Union and Chair of DEFRA’s Rural Climate Change Forum, Prof Gilliland is a well-known figure in the UK and Irish food and farming industries, as a leading businessman, policy advocate, farmer and scientist. He was formerly Director of Agriculture & Sustainability at Devenish Nutrition and collaborates with the Institute for Global Food Security (IGFS) at Queen’s on research projects aimed at improving the sustainability of agriculture. He was appointed ‘Professor of Practice’ in November 2021. John is also currently working as an Environmental Advisor to AHDB (UK's Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board). Professor Gilliland has previously chaired the writing of the Sustainable Agriculture Land Management Strategy Northern Ireland, on behalf of the Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), which has led to the £45m Soil Nutrient Health Scheme. He has held a number of other key roles, including Director of the Oxford Farming Conference and was recently served on the EU Commission’s Soil Mission Board