Technology: Cool tool to help in the fight to cut greenhouse gas emissions on farms
It won the Practice with Science Award at the recent Oxford Farming Conference in England.
The CFT is also used by multinational companies to measure, manage, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in the effort to mitigate global climate change.
Developed by Unilever and researchers at the University of Aberdeen and the Sustainable Food Lab, and is now owned by the not-for-profit Cool Farm Alliance, the CFT is used by Marks & Spencer for cutting carbon emissions in cotton production, by Costco for their organic egg suppliers in the US, and by Heinz for assessing climate-friendly production options for their Californian tomato growers.
“The judges were impressed by this project because of its obvious value to the supply chain.
“The tool helps farmers identify ‘hot spots’, but where it becomes really valuable is that it allows the user to test alternative management options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Oxford Farming Conference director Dr Tina Barsby.
Unlike many agricultural greenhouse gas calculators, the CFT includes calculations of soil carbon sequestration, a key feature of agriculture that has both mitigation and adaptation benefits.
The algorithms and usage of the CFT have been vetted, improved, and adapted since its inception in 2010.
During 2013, the CFT migrated from Excel to its current online version, which was released and launched earlier this month.
The Cool Farm Tool can reveal to farmers how to lower greenhouse gas emissions, which often equates to lower farming costs.
Use of the CFT by farmers demonstrates their interest in sustainability to their customers.
It is easy to use; most of the data needed will be from information captured elsewhere on the farm.
The CFT requires general information such as crop area, yield, soil type, fertiliser and inputs, as well as some detailed information on electricity and fuel use.
Often, win-win situations can be identified: for example, increasing the composting facility on a livestock farm can reduce methane emissions and provide an additional revenue stream in the form of compost for sale.
The CFT will help quantify the greenhouse gas reduction of such management decisions.
The Oxford Farming Conference Practice with Science Award runner-up is The Farm Crap App, developed by the Rural Business School in Cornwall.
It helps farmers reduce their bag fertiliser use by managing their manures more efficiently. It is free to download on both Google Play and the Apple App Store.
