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1/9 Thanks @SittingDuck00 good questions about the messages surrounding livestock farming systems and climate change in the media. This will take a few tweets to unpack issues surrounding communicating complex human-environment systems in simple terms to a mass audience….
2/9 Mass media like to communicate clear, and often binary messages. Yet, our environment is complex - there is no one farming system that can be applied universally to all soils and climates in a sustainable way across the entire global. This complexity can be hard to get across
3/9 There are many different types of soils and many different farming systems. In the UK, we have more grassland than arable land because the climate and soils in many parts of the country are not suitable for arable production and are better suited to livestock and dairy.
4/9 Check out the suitability for food production of some key soils in England and Wales here, based on the >700 soil series identified by the soil survey when mapped. landis.org.uk/soilscapes/ind…
5/9 @theCCCuk recommends reducing livestock on rough grazing land and shifting to more paddock and rotational systems. This is shown on the video - shifting livestock paddocks or mob grazing AND plant-based crops in rotation on the same land.
bbc.co.uk/news/av/scienc…
bbc.co.uk/news/av/scienc…
6/9 Why? After years without animals, livestock has been reintroduced to improve soil health and the production of plant-based crops. There's also the boost to soil biodiversity needed to keep soils functioning....
7/8 .. Because plant-based crops need healthy soils to be sustainable. Plant-based systems where no residues or dung are returned to replace the organic matter removed in the food consumed by people will ultimately lead to soil degradation, including decreased soil carbon.
8/9 We need to address multiple issues about sustainability together and not just climate change emissions in isolation. We need to be pragmatic. For instance, @theCCCuk recommend more tree planting on farms to help off-set emissions from livestock.
9/9 More generally, we need a constructive dialogue around farming and environment that enables practical and workable farming systems in policy and food supply chains. This needs to include farmer voices. @agricology @LEAF_Farming @FarmC02Toolkit @deliverymodel @PastureForLife
Hope that helps answer your question @SittingDuck00? DM if you need more info. Recommend looking at links and Twitter accounts above.
