Dear Family/Friend
You will see lots of farmers protesting this Friday. You may be wondering what it is all about. We do not protest lightly. The media may not convey the facts clearly so I am keen for you to understand our reasons.
One of the key areas of concern to us is climate change and the gross unfairness of what the government intends.
1. Because fossil fuel users (petrol and diesel) cannot be made to reduce their emissions quickly enough, farmers have been asked to subsidise them by us cutting our emissions faster than the Paris Accord requires.
2. The government subsidises forestry, including mostly offshore investors, to plant trees – mostly on good quality farmland – so the trees will take up our emissions from cars, trucks, buses etc but they ignore all the emissions we use up growing grass and the vegetation on our farms.
3. Our emissions are falling and will fall further over the next decade or more and, because we use up as much greenhouse gas growing grass as we produce, we are not adding new warming to the planet. Remember the natural carbon cycle we learnt in General Science at school?
4. Latest research shows our methane emissions that we being asked to reduce are not doing as much warming as first claimed. The formula used is simply wrong. This change means we are being penalised by 400% more than we should.
5. We are the world’s most efficient farmers and, even adding shipping costs, we have the lowest carbon footprint. If we are forced to cut production there will be less money for the nation but, worse, some other country with a worse emissions record will produce the lost food.
6. The Paris Accord that we signed up to says food production should not be curtailed. The government ignores this requirement.
Would you please consider supporting us? Contact your MP and tell them what I have told you. Share the story around. Write letters. That will help us.
Sincerely
Member of F.A.R.M.
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