Yorkshire Farm Carbon Assessments and Soil Sampling

Client: York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority

Aims and Objectives

• Establish a robust, auditable evidence base on agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and soil carbon stocks across the York and North Yorkshire region.
• Quantify whole‑farm and enterprise‑level GHG emissions across a representative range of farm types.
• Identify the main drivers of emissions within and between farming systems.
• Assess baseline soil carbon stocks and related soil health indicators to support future monitoring.
• Translate technical findings into practical, cost‑effective mitigation actions aligned with farm business viability.
• Provide policy‑ready insights to inform future programme design, advisory provision and regional climate strategy.

What we Delivered:

• Delivery of a region‑wide programme covering 50 farms across grazing livestock, dairy, arable, mixed and intensive livestock systems.
• Whole‑farm and enterprise‑level carbon assessments undertaken using Agrecalc, with all assessments submitted for independent validation.
• Soil sampling on four representative fields per farm, to 30 cm depth, providing consistent and comparable baseline data on soil carbon and organic matter.
• Aggregation of farm‑level results to identify system‑level patterns, variability and mitigation potential across the region.
• Identification of 3–5 prioritised mitigation actions per farm, focusing on measures deliverable within existing farm systems.
• Integration of indicative cost and productivity considerations to ensure mitigation aligned with efficiency and cost control.
• Synthesis of results into a concise, policy‑ready report with clear conclusions and recommendations.
• Presentation of findings to York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority stakeholders.

Skills and Expertise Developed:

• Strong expertise in whole‑farm GHG auditing across diverse agricultural systems.
• Further enhanced expertise on translating complex carbon and soil data into farm‑relevant mitigation actions. This resulted in over 200 mitigation actions being proposed across the farms assessed.
• Robust, auditable methodology suitable for repeat assessments and long‑term monitoring.
• Ability to balance environmental ambition with farm business realities, ensuring farmer engagement and deliverability. Where mitigation actions were quantified, projected savings ranged from £500 to over £7,000 per farm.
• Insight into emissions drivers at farm, enterprise and regional level, informing targeted policy intervention.
• Delivery of a scalable framework applicable to other UK regions and administrations.

Testimonials

“We have completed carbon audits in the past, as we are an ex-dairy farm but this one was certainly a far better experience and more beneficial. Amy was a pleasure to work with and her reports and feedback were extremely helpful.
We complete carbon audits as we strive to reduce emissions to improve efficiency and cut costs. We want to protect our business for the future as we transition from dairy to beef alongside our sheep.
The soil tests and explanations were very useful to hopefully have healthier soils, which will increase the long-term sustainability of the farm.”
– Livestock farmer, Skipton

“An excellent job in a very professional and human way. – A rare combination these days!”
– Livestock farm, Buckden

“Just wanted to say thank you for the Soil Carbon Tests. Having this information, alongside the guidance you came and took me through, has helped us decide on a strategy for 2026 and beyond. By having the info, we can do different things on different parcels of land, for example, leave some to grow long grass, overseed some and bale graze the others. Having the info alongside your input will definitely help us improve our land going forward.

You and the Anderson Centre have been a pleasure to work with, just the right amount of information, but there to help when needed.”

– Pasture for Life Livestock farmer, Skipton

Project Video