A combination of Net Zero targets, an increasing demand for carbon offsets and Welsh Government tree planting targets are driving a rapid acceleration in the sale and loss of Welsh farmland to investors seeking to capitalise on the future carbon market.
To help address concerns regarding this trend, the Farmers’ Union of Wales is hosting a special breakfast webinar on Wednesday 19 January via Zoom, commencing at 8am. To help provide some solutions for Welsh farmers and policy makers, a panel of campaigners, farmers, foresters and soil scientists join the FUW for a thought provoking discussion.
The event, which is chaired by FUW Policy Officer Teleri Fielden, will hear from New Zealand based 50 Shades of Green campaigner Mike Butterick, who is also a Wairarapa beef and sheep farmer. Mr Butterick will be outlining how carbon market investors in NZ are driving an unsustainable loss of farmland to blanket plantations of unharvested exotic pines. He will also share their experience and lessons learnt to help ensure Wales’ rural communities do not follow in their footsteps.
Jerry Langford from the Woodland Trust will talk about how we could reach woodland cover targets without threatening food production, mostly through a hedges, edges and agroforestry approach. He will also talk about the opportunities in better woodland management.
Andrew Sowerby, Chair of Confor Wales, will talk about how farming, forestry and carbon credit sales can be better integrated and what opportunities there are for farmers to take control of this demand.
A representative from the Sustainable Soils Alliance will talk about what the opportunities are to sequester more carbon in soils, and how pasture based systems can be rewarded within the Soil Carbon Code.
Speaking ahead of the event, Teleri Fielden said: “Whilst we need to increase carbon sequestration, home grown timber supplies and woodland cover, it must not be done to the detriment of Welsh family farms and rural communities, nor lead to the further loss of land to outside investors. How can we ensure that farmers and rural communities are in the driving seat on carbon, woodland and timber solutions? This and much more will be discussed in our special breakfast meeting and I hope many of you will be able to join us on the morning.”
The event is open to all. To attend, please register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rBkeJjsXQUOC3DEiSiSf7w
The event follows on from a ‘Call to Action on Carbon Trading’ paper launched by FUW at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair: https://www.fuw.org.uk/images/CarbonTrading-English.pdf