A new report produced by WWF-UK in partnership with the Food Climate Research Network has revealed that organic farming alone will not help the agriculture and food production sector do their part to tackle climate change.
The report, entitled 'How Low Can We Go?', has been welcomed by The Crop Protection Association, as it dispels the belief that organic food production is the only way to combat climate change. The report reveals that the food industry accounts for approximately 30% of the UK's carbon footprint, replacing the previous estimate of only 20%. According to the report, the following changes need to be made in all stages of the food production chain in order to reduce this:
• Carbon emissions and energy consumption need to be reduced in the fields of fertiliser manufacturing, farming operations, and food processing and distribution; all of which currently depend heavily on using fossil fuels
• Consumers' eating habits need to be altered to reduce demand for dairy and meat products
• Every stage of the food industry needs to be made more efficient, which can be done by making the best use of technological developments in equipment and techniques.
These changes will require more skilled and specially trained workers to fill the many new food jobs that will be available in the fields of food technology, production and development, especially if the UK food sector is to reach the ambitious target of a 70% reduction in food chain emissions set for the year 2050.
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