This report looks at options for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from Scottish Farms. It analyses a range of options across changes in management of fertiliser, soil and manure, livestock feeding and energy use. Some of these changes require an investment in new tools, equipment or other installations on farm.

The analysis indicates that the 20 technology options considered could reduce emissions by between 9 and 150 kt CO2e GHG annually if they were implemented to their fullest potential across Scotland. Doing this would also have other positive environmental effects (e.g. with regards to soil or water quality).

The report recommends use of complementary incentive mechanisms to encourage uptake of the technologies. These could include:

  • increased emphasis on these technologies in extension services or mechanisms;
  • support for collaborative implementation of the technologies;
  • foot printing/accounting schemes for validating and signalling on-farm and supply chain progress; and
  • a comprehensive approach to each stage of the supply chain.

Methane emissions from livestock are responsible for approximately 50% of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with agriculture in Scotland. Reducing the emissions is key to reducing agricultural emissions in Scotland. 

We have looked at this issue from different perspectives:

  1. Review of options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions via cattle slurry management
    explores how to reduce the greenhouse gases from storing and use of slurry at Scottish farms
  2. Livestock Health & Greenhouse Gas Emissions– looking at how emissions intensity could be reduced through control measures relating to
    • milk yield and cow fertility rates (dairy systems),
    • cow/ewe fertility and abortion rates, calf/lamb mortality and growth rates (beef and sheep systems), and
    • feed conversion ratios, FCR (all systems)
  3. Benchmarking the emissions intensity of Scottish livestock – making recommendations for benchmarking cattle milk and meat, and sheep meat within the boundary of cradle to farm-gate, in the first instance.
  4. Nutritional strategies to reduce enteric methane emissions –  finding that three of the 12 nutritional strategies evaluated could be effective in reducing enteric methane  emissions. Based on this work, we were asked to explore the practical feasibility of including lipids and nitrates in livestock diets and concluded that this option has limited potential due to the complex connection between feeding regime and emissions.
  5. Farmyard Manure and Slurry Management, and Anaerobic Digestion in Scotland – Practical Application on Farm: this report examines the market potential for anaerobic digestion technologies as a tool to manage slurry and farmyard manure arising from Scottish livestock farming, focusing on how greenhouse gas emissions might be reduced.
  6. Slurry Storage on Scottish Farms –  A Feasibility Study – This work assesses the relative value of different slurry management options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from livestock production.  It examines key sectors where there are significant emissions considers the opportunities for mitigation.

The Scottish Government’s Rural Development Programme (SRDP) is the main fund supporting rural development in Scotland. It supports economic, environmental and social measures to encourage sustainable development within rural Scotland.
The programme provides funding for projects covering farming, forestry, rural enterprise and business development, diversification and rural tourism.

ClimateXChange was asked to review the impact of the programme’s Agri-Environment options, i.e. the suggested incentives to farmers and land managers to ensure they manage their land in an environmentally sensitive way.

This report:

  • assesses the existing SRDP options in relation to their impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions or carbon sequestration;
  • evaluates potential additional benefits from the SRDP options with regards to their GHG impacts; and
  • provides an easy to use matrix of the potential SRDP options.

The research found that most SRDP measures provide benefits across a range of indicators of GHG savings and reduced nutrient losses. However, there is significant geographical variation in how applicable different measures are. This can limit their potential for greenhouse gas mitigation at the national scale.

Land drainage is essential to maintaining the productivity of Scottish agriculture. It also has significant potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

Wet soils can produce large quantities of Nitrous Oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas. Much of these emissions may be avoided through adequate agricultural drainage.

The Scottish Government has historically provided funding for the drainage of wet agricultural land. However, there is evidence that the condition of Scotland’s drainage infrastructure has deteriorated in the past 50 years, with little investment currently taking place.

As such, improving agricultural drainage infrastructure could represent a cost effective greenhouse gas mitigation measure.

Through a review of existing data, this report identifies:

• the current state of Scotland’s agricultural drainage infrastructure;
• the potential magnitude of greenhouse gas abatement from installing or improving drainage; and
• the impacts that such activity may have on other climate change mitigation policies.