Eight forward-thinking beef and sheep farms from across Wales - including one in Pembrokeshire - have been selected to embark upon an ambitious journey to measure the environmental impact of their businesses as part of a groundbreaking national project.

They represent the Welsh red meat industry in the Environment Baselining Pilot - a collaborative initiative between the UK’s red meat levy boards, led by AHDB with support from Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales (HCC) and Quality Meat Scotland (QMS).

The aim of this work is to showcase agriculture’s vital role in not only producing food, but in protecting the environment - from reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building carbon stocks to enhancing soil health and supporting biodiversity.

The participating Welsh farms were chosen based on factors relating to geographical location, topography, soil type and enterprise systems, and joined a larger group of 170 farms across England and Scotland, alongside dairy and arable farmers in Wales.

One of those is Brownslate Farm in Pembroke managed by Peter Morris, his wife and son, which comprises a 300-acre organic family-owned holding with a predominantly extensive forage (grass, silage and hay) low input system, a lowland suckler herd and a lamb finishing enterprise. The farm is located adjacent to the Milford Haven estuary and sits on a mainly light loam soil over red sandstone base.

The beef enterprise totals around 70-80 cattle which include 25 organic single suckler Charolais x Welsh Black cows with followers. The cattle are all outwintered and kept until finished. The sheep enterprise total 160 organic Suffolk x Texel x Lleyn ewes lambing from February to March.

Lambs are sold from the end of June through to April while store lambs are overwintered and sold fat. All the cattle are sold finished to ABP Ellesmere, while the lambs are sold to Dunbia, Llanybydder with cull ewes being sold at Whitland Mart.

The Morris’ are environmentally conscious and chose to participate in this project to put a figure on their environmental performance, identify areas for improvement and assess the carbon stocks. The business was very organically and environmentally proactive in the 1990’s and was heavily involved in the initial habit scheme, followed by Tir Gofal and then Glastir. The farm is now part of the Habitat Wales Scheme and Organic Scheme. Woodland ares are both managed and unmanaged.

Sampling and scanning activities have already been undertaken on the farms to measure greenhouse gas emissions, landscape and soil carbon stocks. This includes carbon soil sampling at 1m depth and LiDAR scanning, as well as carbon auditing with bespoke action plans created for each farm.

HCC’s Dr Eleri Thomas, Industry Efficiency and Sustainability Executive said: “We are pleased to support this exciting pilot and support red meat producers as they take bold steps to baseline and better understand the environmental impact of their businesses.

“The work is intended to provide the industry with a national dataset, showing the range and variety of results from individual farms and enabling a move away from national and international averages. The data will help to demonstrate the real environmental benefits of the agricultural industry and provide a more accurate reflection of its position and progress towards Net Zero.”

HCC recently published a strategic action plan - Red Meat Industry Vision: Delivering Value for Wales - which outlines three key priority areas for the organisation. Priority 2 focuses on developing and leading on the implementation of initiatives that improve economic and environmental sustainability.

Dr Thomas added: “To ensure a prosperous and sustainable future for the Welsh red meat industry, it is imperative to balance economic performance and environmental stewardship. HCC has committed to measuring current environmental and economic performance and drive improvements through industry collaboration.

“This pilot is a key element of that promise, and we look forward to working with the eight Welsh farmers and enabling them to take insight-led action towards a more sustainable future.”

For more information about the project and the participating farmers, head to: Environment Baselining Project - Hybu Cig Cymru