Environmental guidance for your business in Northern Ireland & Scotland
Farming is an industry that is very dependent on the weather. Weather can determine when certain activities on the farm take place. Climate change is already altering the patterns of weather we experience with more extreme events becoming more common. The most reliable predictions see these trends continuing.
There are two ways in which you can respond to these changes:
Both strategies offer the opportunity to improve the efficiency of your activities and improve the profitability of your business.
In Scotland and Northern Ireland there are programmes that are investigation how best to reduce resource use while maintaining the quality of the product, and what changes in farming practice will produce the best results now and in the foreseeable future.
The Greenhouse Gas Implementation Partnership (GHGIP) is a group chaired by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) with representatives from the agri-food sector and environmental stakeholders.
The GHGIP has been established with the aim of making sure that local food production is undertaken in the carbon efficient manner possible. Measures to reduce carbon emissions are very often associated with cost reductions and increased profitability.
The GHGIP have published a report which provides information on a range of subjects including:
As a part of the Scottish Government's Climate Change Advisory Activity, the Scottish Rural College (SRUC) has developed information on a range of agricultural topics and has produced accompanying practical guides.
The main topics covered are:
There is a range of practical guides to these topics that can be downloaded from the SRUC website.
SRUC: Farming for a better climate
SRUC: Downloadable guides – Improving farm profitability
Watch our short videos:
How to protect soil and water on a farm
How to store materials on a farm
How to make good use of nutrients on a farm
How to prevent diffuse pollution on a farm
DAERA - Greenhouse Gas Implementation Partnership
Defra: Climate Change Risk Assessment summary - Agriculture
European Commission - Farming and climate change
My Year at NetRegs, A reflection on my time as an intern with the NetRegs team at SEPA. An overview of all the activities and projects I had the opportunity to participate in during my Bright Green Environmental Placement.
A day with Hydrology, SEPA's hydrometry unit is responsible for around 400 gauging stations and 350 rainfall monitoring sites. River gauging stations are important as they allow river levels to be monitored so flood events can be predicted and flood warnings sent out.
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