Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to reduce rural methane emissions from farms.

Greenhouse gas emissions from UK agriculture are predominantly associated with methane and nitrous oxide. The UK has a strong record on reducing emissions from methane, one of the main greenhouses gases warming our planet, with around13% of methane emissions cut from the agricultural sectors compared to 1990 levels. Since 1990 we are now producing a litre of milk with 21% less GHG emissions. However, we are not resting on this progress, and we will continue to take action to reduce UK methane emissions even further.

For example, livestock feed additives with methane inhibiting properties have the potential to reduce emissions, especially from housed cattle. Whilst this is an emerging technology, the Government is actively investigating the promising role these products may have in delivering emissions savings in the medium term.

As announced at COP26, the UK is also proud to be one of the first signatories of The Global Methane Pledge, a commitment to take voluntary actions to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030, against 2020 levels. More broadly our recently published Net Zero Strategy outlined our commitment for 75% of farmers in England to be engaged in low carbon practices by 2030, rising to 85% by 2035.

The Government will support the agricultural sector to reduce all emissions through the schemes set out in the Agricultural Transition Plan. We are introducing three schemes that reward environmental benefits: the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery. Together, these schemes are intended to provide a powerful vehicle for achieving the goals of the 25 Year Environment Plan and our commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, while supporting our rural economy.

Our plans include a range of policies and actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. For example, our recently launched Sustainable Farming Incentive standards for soils can help create conditions for farmers to reduce the requirement to apply mineral fertilisers, so helping reduce emissions of nitrous oxide. In the future we are intending to introduce a Standard for Nutrient Management which will further incentivise reductions in the application of mineral fertilisers.