Transition farming is the process by which UK agriculture moves away from its dependence on oil.
In order to meet the challenges of a post 'peak oil' future all agricultural businesses will need to re-connect with local food communities.
Every farm or horticultural business uses energy and creates waste - but most could use less. Resource efficiency is about minimising resources used and the amount of wastes produced in order to increase efficiency. Water used for agriculture represents approximately 2% of the water abstracted in the UK. In 2004, UK agriculture used 2.1 million tonnes of oil equivalents and produced just over 7% of the UK's total greenhouse gas emissions.
Issues of resource use are increasingly impacting upon the economic, political and environmental sustainability of agricultural businesses in the light of rapidly rising fuel costs and increased consumer awareness of sustainability issues. Being more efficient in your resource consumption means reduced energy and water bills, reduced production costs and lower waste disposal costs. Consequently, it is well worth considering how to reduce energy, water and minimise farm wastes - even whether energy could be produced on farm to increase self sufficiency or contribute to the national energy supply.
The
Soil Association's 2007 Conference looked at what the near future will bring and discussed strategies that will allow us to move confidently forward into a world post 'peak oil'. The Soil Association is now addressing these issues through its
One Planet Agriculture campaign
Organic farming is generally a more energy efficient system of food production, mainly because it does not use inorganic nitrogen fertiliser, which is produced from petro-chemicals. Overall, UK organic farming is about 26% more energy efficient per tonne.
Find out more:
Transition news
Waste minimisation
Water efficiency
Energy efficiency and production
To download our 'Transition Farming - reducing energy use, water and waste and producing energy on farm' briefing paper,
click here [123KB]
To download our new 'energy, water efficiency and renewable energy production - sources of information' fact sheet,
click here [762KB]
Watch Patrick Holden, Soil Association Director, investigate fossil fuel depletion, transition towns and the need to relocalise food systems on the BBC Wales show Week in Week Out:
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
The Soil Association also runs a number of events for farmers and growers - these include a broad range of expert speakers from the organic sector, and the majority of our courses include a visit to a farm or site that displays excellent examples of best practice. Find out more...
To find out more about Transition Farming call 0117 9142400 or e-mail ff@soilassociation.org
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