The National Farmers' Union has today unveiled its plan to deliver its pledge of net zero emissions across the sector by 2040.

The 12-page blueprint sees farmers capturing more carbon through soil and woodland restoration, growing more energy crops, and improving meat productivity to bring emissions under control.

However, the trade body insisted farming could become carbon neutral without cutting meat production, despite warnings from scientists that reducing meat consumption in developed nations will be a crucial tool in bringing emissions under control. 

The NFU argues farmers can slash their greenhouse gases to net zero within just two decades, describing the 2040 goal - which it first announced in January - as "challenging but attainable, given the right incentives" from government.

NFU President Minette Batters said there was no single answer to the climate challenge, but that its aspiration was for UK farmers to produce "the most climate friendly food in the world".

"Representing British farming, we recognise our unique position as both a source and a store for greenhouse gas emissions and, importantly, how we can build on our work so far to deliver climate neutral farming in the next 20 years," she said. "We mean what we say about delivering against this aspiration and we have a sense of urgency for what is needed to achieve it."

The UK farming sector has cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 16 per cent since 1990, but the NFU concedes it has only made "modest progress" since 2011 when its most recent climate action plan was adopted. According to government statistics, emissions from agriculture have stagnated at around 45 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent since 2011, roughly 10 per cent of total emissions. 

The NFU insists there are clear environmental and economic imperatives for farmers to take action on cutting emissions, citing concerns over the impact of increasingly extreme weather conditions such as cold, drought and floods on crops and livestock.

Unlike most other sectors of the economy only around a tenth of agriculture emissions are CO2, with methane making up around 50 per cent and nitrous dioxide 40 per cent.

The new plan therefore highlights a number of measures required to reduce emissions of a mix of greenhouse gases, as well as widening the remit of farmers to include providing 'public goods' such as tree planting, soil restoration and flood protection.

It also focuses on the opportunities for farming to assist other industries with decarbonisation, such as through provision of bio-waste or energy crops for generating renewable heat and electricity, or through pioneering greener, bio-based materials such as hemp fibre and sheep's wool for industry and construction.

However, it comes just days after the government's long-awaited Agriculture Bill, designed to offer farmers payments for carrying out environmental improvements after the UK leaves the EU farming subsidy regime, was shelved as Parliament's proroguing leaves little time for MPs to consider the legislation. It leaves future of the Bill and the UK's farming subsidy shrouded in uncertainty.

Batters stressed a clear government policy framework was "crucial" for supporting farmers through the net zero transition, including through an overhaul of farming subsidies after Brexit .

Moreover, she reiterated her belief that the sector could deliver its net zero target by 2040 "while retaining, if not growing, our agricultural capacity", despite previous warnings from the Committee on Climate Change that doing so would be challenging without reducing meat production.

"We must avoid anything that undermines UK food production, and merely exports our greenhouse gas emissions to other parts of the world," she said.

Labour's Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Sue Hayman welcomed the report as a "proactive step" in tackling emissions from agriculture. But she urged the government to "provide the support and leadership" to help farmers produce climate-friendly food.

However, the plan didn't recieve such a warm welcome from some NGOs. Friends of the Earth campaigner Guy Shrubsole said it was "astonishing" the NFU hadn't included a reduction in meat consumption in its net zero plans. 

"Eating less but better meat is a crucial part of the fight against climate breakdown, yet astonishingly there is no mention of this in the NFU's report," he said. "Doing so would free up much more land for trees and agroforestry, which would absorb huge quantities of carbon from the atmosphere. But it seems the NFU is still not prepared to contemplate significant land use change in Britain, despite the Committee on Climate Change recommending this as being vital."