The UK government must take action to increase the production of renewable energy on farms to improve the UK’s energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) said, according to the online edition of FarmingUK.
According to FUW, the UK’s dependence on fuel and energy imports can be reduced by increasing energy production on farms. The call is one of the five demands that make up the union’s “five-point plan”. The plan includes critical actions to alleviate the burden on farmers and consumers in the short term and improve food and energy security on a long term.
FUW President Glyn Roberts said the pandemic and the situation in Ukraine highlighted the vulnerability of food supplies to global events that farmers had no control over. These developments have brought closer attention to the UK’s dependence on international energy and fuel markets and stores.
“Many farmers are already playing a key role in reducing this impact through renewable energy production, but we have only tapped into what is possible,” said Roberts.
He said that Britain’s dependence on fuel and energy imports can be reduced by increasing domestic production, and farmers are keen to play their part. “However, for this we need a restoration of incentives – and this should not come at the expense of food production and large areas of agricultural land,” the head of FUW emphasized.
Recall that after the introduction of feed-in tariffs in 2010, the production of renewable energy on British farmland began to increase rapidly. Still, in 2019 this incentive was removed, and the growth of energy production from renewable sources decreased significantly.
“The government must strive to remove barriers and restore incentives to increase the contribution of agriculture to our energy security,” Roberts concluded.