Farm accounts will change forever this week – when the CLA and Savills release a new, absolutely free, web-based calculator which will allow farmers and land managers to work out their carbon accounts. The CLA, the rural economy experts, say it will mark a shift in emphasise when, instead of dusty ledgers and cheque stubs, important calculations will be based around green house gas emission and carbon sequestration. The calculator – called CALM – goes live on Friday March 7th and can be accessed by anybody, via the CLA website. The software is the result of a project led by the CLA, working in partnership with Savills and supported by the East of England Development Agency, and the Crown Estates. The CLA says the figures the calculator produces may eventually become as important as profit and loss accounts. CALM is the first free business-based calculator which shows the balance between annual emissions and carbon sequestration of the key greenhouse gases associated with the activities of individual land-based businesses. CLA Policy Director, Allan Buckwell, said: “This calculator offers a free, business-based approach for farms and estates and it is quite distinct from carbon footprint calculators devised for specific products. It follows the most widely used, internationally agreed, accounting guidelines for government and businesses to understand quantify and manage GHG emissions.” Prof. Buckwell says that understanding the carbon footprint of a business will help guide management decisions that may mitigate GHG emissions. We know how long it took for profit and loss accounts to achieve a standardised format – so there will be changes along the way - but the fact is that farming and forestry are in the front line of climate change, they depend critically on the climate for the production of their outputs while agriculture, land use change and forestry generate about 7% of UK greenhouse gas emissions.”

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5 March 2008
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