CPM readers can step forward and become part of the solution to climate change, says the UK’s premier fertiliser manufacturer. Here’s how and why. By Tom Allen-Stevens

Crop production can play a key role in mitigating against climate change. Arable farmers should plan now to ensure they make the most of this great opportunity.

That’s the view from CF Fertilisers, who have partnered with CPM, and a number of other key industry players, in a quest to encourage the UK’s arable Climate Change Champions to step forward.

The aim is to illustrate how UK crop production can be part of the solution, as both an emissions source and a sink, to the “single biggest issue facing humanity” and help deliver the NFU’s ambition of net zero by 2040.

“It is always individual farmers that lead from the front and it is those people we want to identify and acknowledge as Climate Change Champions,” says CF Fertilisers’ agronomist Allison Grundy.

“We are looking for energised, engaged farmers who are emphatic about doing things right in the future.

“In particular, those who are prepared to spend time researching the options, who make the difficult calls and who are not afraid of speaking out about the changes needed.

“These are the sort of people we should be celebrating as they are capable of leading by example, reaching out to an audience and showing the positive benefits we can all enjoy from moving towards reduced carbon reliance.”

Nominate yourself

Farmers who feel they can fulfil this role can nominate themselves as a Climate Change Champion by filling out a simple on-line form. More information on the initiative can be found here.

And for Allison, there’s never been a better time for arable farmers to step forward and ensure their voice is heard, to represent the interests of the entire industry.

“We have reached a point in time where both the impact of climate change and the role of agricultural production within this are more clearly understood than ever before,” she says.

“Aside from the sheer area of land utilised by arable production and its inevitable role in future solutions, it’s also increasingly clear that good, environmentally focused farming practice is not necessarily incompatible with achieving optimum production efficiency.

“Attaining the levels of production required to feed the world in the future and protecting the environment are not mutually exclusive – both can function in harmony together,” she stresses.

Key partnerships

CPM has joined with NFU and a number of key partners in the UK arable industry to lead the drive towards net zero.

The aim is to shape the narrative and ensure arable farmers take their rightful place as providers of potential solutions to climate change.

“We are all in this together and there are roles for farmers, government and manufacturers to help drive the change,” notes Allison.

“After all, without a healthy environment, there can be no farming and without readily available food we would have a very different society.”

All aspects should come into focus, she continues, including reducing the impact of manufacturing, encouraging more responsible use of fertilisers, working with government and key advisory bodies and investing in R&D to continuously fine-tune efficient use of N fertilisers on-farm.

“CF Fertilisers is the only fertiliser company to have invested in working with the Carbon Trust to produce recognised carbon footprints for all our products. We’ve also reduced the carbon footprint of our production by 40% over the past ten years and being British made, our products have a short UK supply chain.”

CF also works with farmers to ensure optimal crop N-uptake from its products with minimal N loss to the atmosphere.

“Nitrogen fertiliser has a fundamental role to play in the sustainable future of agriculture production,” says Allison. 

“The reality of manufacturing fertiliser is that it will always be an energy-intensive process but CF is committed to ensuring our environmental impact is kept to a minimum and this means that farmers benefit from a reduced carbon footprint by using CF fertiliser products.”