I've herd enough of this...

Pun intended...

As we near the beginning of the second semester here at UCL it is time for me to bring this blog, at least for the near future, to a close. Inspired by the documentary 'Cowspiracy' I have for the past couple of months been investigating the environmental impact of agriculture, both in terms of livestock, as in the documentary, and in terms of crops. I began with the aim of looking into specific impacts of intensive farming but the blog quickly seemed to morph into one that would explore technologies and strategies designed to reduce environmental impact. I was pessimistic heading into the blog, ready to bash farming and declare we should all be going vegan, but coming out the other side I see the huge amount of interest there is in cleaning up farming practices at all levels. It was also interesting to look at a hypothetical situation in which intensive agriculture did not exist, where pre-war agricultural practices were maintained in line with post-war population growth. Such a situation would certainly not have us in a better place.

During the course of this blog COP22 took place, and for the first time agriculture took a central role in climate negotiations, bringing about discussion of many solutions of which the 4 pour 1000 initiative took center stage. Particular emphasis was put on African countries for which $30 billion has been raised to aim at agricultural adaptation in the Adapation of African Agriculture Initiative. If successful the initiative could triple agricultural production in Africa by 2030 all developed in a climate- conscious way. By the end of COP22, eighty percent of countries included agriculture as part of there mitigation goals.

With such interest in agriculture, and no shortage of innovative technologies I believe the outlook is positive. Humans have already caused significant global environmental change, and we have consigned the earth to yet more irreversible change in the near future, yet adaptation is happening. This week it was reported that last year the UK produced more electricity through wind power than through coal, something less than a decade ago that seemed inconceivable. The technology for change is there is farming too, and it is being designed such that farmers can still profit. I most certainly have faith that we are headed in the right direction and I look forward to keeping a keen eye on any developments in the farming industry.

And so that's it for this blog. I would like to thank everyone that has taken an interest, liked or commented on my posts. This project was a huge learning experience for me and I hope that along the way you read something that you found thought-provoking.

Goodbye for now!