Boosting farm yields to restore habitats could create greenhouse gas ’sink’

New study using UK data is first to show that raising farm yields and allowing 'spared' land to be reclaimed for woodlands and wetlands could offset greenhouse gas produced by farming industry to meet national target of 80% emissions reduction by 2050. Land is a source of greenhouse gases if it is used to farm fertiliser-hungry crops or methane-producing cattle, or it can be a sink for greenhouse gases - through sequestration - Andrew Balmford New research into the potential for sparing land from food production to balance greenhouse gas emissions has shown that emissions from the UK farming industry could be largely offset by 2050. This could be achieved if the UK increased agricultural yields and coupled this with expanding the areas of natural forests and wetlands to match its European neighbours. The new study suggests that by upping forest cover from 12% to 30% of UK land over the next 35 years - close to that of France and Germany, but still less than the European average - and restoring 700,000 hectares of wet peatland, these habitats would act as a carbon 'sink': sucking in and storing carbon. This could be enough to meet government targets of 80% greenhouse gas reduction by 2050 for the farming industry. Agriculture currently produces around 10% of all the UK's damaging greenhouse gas emissions. The new woodlands and wetlands would be more than just a carbon sink, say researchers.