We have a number of farmers working with us on our goal to Net Zero. One farmer, Tim Phipps has become one of our ‘seeing is believing’ blueprint beef farms.
Tim’s farm in Northamptonshire is an 850 acre family run arable and beef farm that has supplied Morrisons for around 8 years. They currently house around 160 breeding beef cows and farm 450 acres of arable crops including wheat and barley.
Tim runs the farm along with his brother Louis and his father and mother, Geoff and Odette, and having farmed for generations, the family together are passionate about what they do.
Tim will be working closely with our Farming and Agriculture team as well as a range of industry leading experts from businesses and organisations such as RAFT and Harper Adams, to trial projects on farm and help us understand how we can lower emissions and increase carbon offsetting. Once Net Zero has been achieved on Tim’s farm, he will play a key role in helping demonstrate how this has been achieved and the blueprint used on this farm will be cascaded to the rest of the farmers to help them make the same progress.
We plan to achieve Net Zero on Tim’s farm by focusing on some key areas which contribute to emissions production on farm, for example; efficiency of cattle through breed, fertility and feed, feed origins as well as manure and land management. We will also be looking at opportunities to further offset carbon emissions.
Cattle breeding and Fertility
Tim will be working closely with RAFT Solutions to understand how the health, fertility and welfare of his animals can be improved to encourage healthier livestock and optimal efficiency. Ensuring cattle are as efficient as possible helps reduce some of the emissions associated with weight gain, feed intake and days on farm.
Sustainable and Home Grown Feed
We have expert nutritionists on hand to look at feed content and the use of feed additives which can lower methane emissions cows produce through enteric fermentation, in the diets of Tim’s cattle.
Tim will look at producing a more integrated farming system, using his own home grown silage to feed his cattle, subsequently reducing food miles and costs associated with purchasing animal feeds.
Manure Management
Tim will be working closely with a number of experts to look at the best manure management practices in terms of storage and application in order to reduce emissions.
These both have a large impact on the carbon footprint of farms due to losses of emissions into the atmosphere, leaching into soils and poor application and efficiency.
Land Management is the most important factor when it comes to sequestration and carbon offsetting. Tim will be working closely with Natural England to help him get the most from soils, trees, hedges and biomass and identify opportunities to further increase carbon sequestration on farms.