CAFRE to host Carbon Challenge Conference for dairy farmers

To give dairy farmers an opportunity to better understand how managing carbon and greenhouse gas emissions in their businesses will improve their production efficiency, help secure dairy markets and meet retailer requirements CAFRE is hosting the ‘Carbon Challenge’ conference on Thursday 29 February, from 10:00am – 3:30pm, at Greenmount Campus.

At this event dairy farmers hear from a number of guest speakers from across the agri-food industry with specialist knowledge of carbon issues within their sector.

Tracey Teague, DAERA Deputy Secretary of Climate Change, Science & Innovation Group will speak on ‘Climate Change Regulation and Policy’. Tracey is responsible for business areas including Green Growth and Climate Action delivery, Climate Change and Green Growth policy and legislation. Prior to this Tracey had been Acting Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA).

Joe McDonald, Head of Corporate Affairs for Asda in Northern Ireland, will speak about a ‘Retailer and Consumer Perspective of Carbon’. Joe joined Asda in 2013 and is part of the wider Corporate Affairs Team. He represents Asda on all aspects of policy affecting the retailer in Northern Ireland. Joe is responsible for Asda’s UK Public Affairs engagement with Defra and is the organisations UK policy lead on Brexit, and formerly on Covid.

Ian Stevenson, Chief Executive of the Dairy Council for Northern Ireland will speak on ‘Meeting the Carbon Challenge in the Supply Chain’. Prior to joining the Dairy Council, Ian was Chief Executive of the LMC for 12 years. Ian is currently a Director of Sustainable Ruminant Genetics Ltd and an active member of the Carbon Farming Partnership.

Oliver McEntyre, National Strategy Director, Barclays Agriculture will speak on ‘Carbon and the Environment – A Banking View’. From a family farm, Oliver spent 10 years managing pig units throughout the north-west before joining Barclays as Senior Agricultural Manager for Cumbria and Scotland later becoming their National Agricultural Specialist. In his present role as Barclays’ National Agricultural Strategy Director, Oliver oversees Barclays’ agricultural strategy and positioning from an industry perspective.

Jim Uprichard, Trouw Sales and Technical Manager for Sustainability will speak on ‘Feed and Carbon, Issues and solutions’. Jim has spent 33 years with Trouw Nutrition. He has worked closely with many feed compounders and frequently supports them at farm level. More recently he has been appointed as Trouw Sales and Technical Manager for Sustainability across GB and Ireland.

Martin Mulholland, Head of Carbon Reduction Branch within DAERA Farm Support and Development Division will speak on ‘DAERA Policy – Reducing dairy emissions’. Martin was formerly Senior Dairying Technologist at CAFRE. He is currently responsible for the development of carbon reduction policy measures within DAERA including modelling the impact of policy measures on the GHG Inventory emissions. Martin will help translate the policy into practical farm actions.

The conference will close with CAFRE staff outlining the practical approach to Carbon emission reduction using the Greenmount dairy herd as a case study. They will relate the carbon footprint to herd performance and discuss the carbon mitigation and sequestration plans, highlighting the progress that is already being made. There will also be discussion of the adaptations that will be needed to improve farm resilience going forward.

The conference will be jointly chaired by Don Morrow, Head of Dairy, Pigs, Poultry and Crops, CAFRE and Mike Johnston, Chairman of the Carbon Farming Partnership’s Technical Working Group. An important feature of the conference will be the two panel sessions that will enable farmers to question all the speakers directly.

The conference will be interesting, informative and challenging to local dairy farmers. Book your place to attend at the CAFRE website. 

Tickets cost £15 to cover lunch. Early booking is recommended as places are limited.

Notes to editors: 

1. Photo caption: L-R: Alan Agnew (Senior Dairy Adviser, CAFRE), Anna Truesdale (Dairy Adviser, CAFRE), Christopher Breen (Dairy Adviser, CAFRE), Don Morrow (Head of Dairy, Pigs, Poultry and Crops, CAFRE), Michael Calvert (Senior Agriculture Technologist, CAFRE), Elizabeth Earle (Senior Agriculture Technologist) and Elizabeth Calvin (Dairy Adviser, CAFRE). The conference will be interesting, informative and challenging to local dairy farmers. Book your place to attend at the CAFRE website. Tickets cost £15 to cover lunch.
2. Follow us on X and Facebook.
3. All media queries should be directed to the DAERA Press Office: pressoffice.group@daera-ni.gov.uk or telephone: 028 9016 3460.

Share this page