SPF-funded Y&NYCA Farm Carbon Audits 2025-26

Descriptions

York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority (YNYCA) has been allocated with UK Shared Prosperity Funds (UKSPF) for 2025-2026. YNYCA, with advice from the Grow Yorkshire Partnership (GYP), aims to undertake a programme which can support the transition of farms to financial and environmental sustainability.

The York and North Yorkshire Local Growth Plan highlights that food and farming innovation is a key sector within the region and the Route-map to Carbon Negative shows that there is a need for the agricultural sector to reduce emissions. Through the route-map, it has been identified that the key areas of emissions for agriculture in the region are livestock, soils and machinery.

Previously, YNYCA through UKSPF has enabled farms to consider specific opportunities and emissions with the Farm Sustainability Programme providing farms with either; energy audits, renewable feasibility studies, soil carbon testing and biodiversity net gain assessments. These have enabled farms to consider certain areas where improvements can be made to achieve production efficiencies, lower overhead costs and make carbon savings.

Understanding whole-farm carbon emissions is crucial to enabling both increased productivity but also reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. There is a need for a whole-farm approach to assessing key sources of emissions, to enable farms to target reduction strategies to those areas of the farm with the biggest challenges. Energy is often a limited or small source of emissions on farms, compared to feedstock, fertilizers and livestock. Farming practices and the interaction between different resource-uses can impact emissions, which should be understood by whole-farm assessments.

To ensure that farms have an opportunity to consider whole-farm emissions and target approaches to reduce costs and key sources of emissions, YNYCA is procuring Farm Carbon Audits along with follow-up farm business advice.