Overview

(ARCZero) is a European Innovation Partnership project made up of a co-operative of 7 farms in Northern Ireland. It seeks to measure and manage carbon flows at the individual farm level to empower farmers to make positive change towards carbon zero farming. The project is independently led by John Gilliland, alongside 7 commercial farms and industry partners including AgriSearch, Devenish, Queens University Belfast and Birnie Consultancy. ARCZero will focus on producing an accurate, individual, whole farm carbon balance sheets – currently not available. It will precisely measure on-farm carbon stocks (soils, trees and hedges) combining them with the results of a whole farm Lifecycle Analysis calculator. This will allow an accurate creation of a base-line greenhouse gas position. By assessing future management practices and identifying the most impactful behaviours the project intends to inform how farms across Northern Ireland could accelerate the move towards net carbon zero farming. This project, as part of the European Innovation Partnership is co-funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA).