LANTRA and Social Farms & Gardens have supported the Farm Carbon Calculator to improve the experience of carbon foot-printing for market gardeners.
In an effort to support market gardening in Wales, the organisations came together to identify the gaps in the existing Farm Carbon Calculator that previously prevented market gardeners from completing an accurate carbon footprint for their complex growing operations.
This initial project focussed on the “quick wins” to improve the ability of market gardeners to undertake their carbon footprint. In the short three month timeframe, the team have:
● Added KPIs at a relevant scale for market gardens to track change year-on-year (litres of water/ m2 and kgCO2e/ m2)
● Increased the number of different crops whose residue emissions can be estimated by 24% (including fruit and veg not commonly grown at field horticulture scale in the UK but commonly grown at market garden scale such as chillies and tomatoes)
● Increased the organic fertility addition options by 33% to better estimate emissions from application of these nutrient sources
● Allowed market gardens to define themselves as such (as opposed to having to select generic fruit or vegetable production) so that, in future, anonymised benchmarks can be developed for users of the tool
Through the initial work to better adapt the Farm Carbon Calculator to the needs of market gardeners, stakeholder sessions including Sarah Gould from LANTRA, Alison Sheffield from Social Farms & Gardens and Tony Little from Sustainable Farming Consultancy have informed a document outlining the outstanding requirements to improve the tool for horticulture even further.
Farm Carbon Toolkit would also like to thank the years of support and feedback from users of the Farm Carbon Calculator whose suggestions have fed into this work. Market gardeners have been testing the new developments for us through April 2025 and are pleased with the improvements:
“The calculator itself is very user friendly[. I]t did take me about 5 hours to collate all data and input and it highlighted that we need to improve our digital record keeping as so much of the data we needed is stored in paper form in various places - so it was a good reminder why it is worth digitising yields etc.“ anonymous market gardener feedback, 2 May 2025.
When surveyed, 66% of 37 existing users of the Farm Carbon Calculator reported that, based on using the Calculator, they are likely to make changes to reduce the carbon footprint of their business, while 75% of 38 users said they were likely to recommend the tool to a friend (online survey of Farm Carbon Calculator users Jan 2025).
We want to make sure this opportunity to understand and monitor the carbon footprint of food production is also available to market gardens. LANTRA, Social Farms & Gardens, Farm Carbon Toolkit and other stakeholders are seeking funding and collaborations to continue to action the required development outlined by this initial project so that:
● Market Gardeners are better able to understand and monitor the carbon footprint of their farms.
● Market Gardeners have an increased understanding of how their work affects climate change and can communicate this with their customers.
● Market Gardeners are able to identify and put into place an increased range of solutions to reduce emissions over time.
The Farm Carbon Calculator is free for farmers and growers to use when footprinting their own farm or growing operation. Take a look at calculator.farmcarbontoolkit.org.uk
About The Farm Carbon Calculator
Launched in 2009, our Calculator has been designed to be user friendly, comprehensive and intuitive. It was one of the first calculators that considered carbon sequestration on-farm. Calculations are made on a whole-farm basis and give a total carbon balance that includes all greenhouse gas emissions from the business and all carbon sequestration in soils and biomass.
Graphics are displayed which make results accessible and understandable. Downloads of all or parts of the report can be made, helping to make carbon reporting within and/or outside your company easy.
The Farm Carbon Calculator can also be used as a decision making tool, thanks to the way results are calculated and displayed in real time. Businesses can model impacts of proposed management changes to understand the impacts on the carbon footprint of its business.
Our ambition is to have the best farm carbon calculator in the UK, regarded for its scientific robustness, transparency, usability and comprehensiveness.
We manage a continual development cycle that responds to user feedback and incorporates the latest science and data models. Our calculator is also independently reviewed each year by experts, which provides crucial feedback and assurance that our methodology is robust and credible.
For more information, visit: calculator.farmcarbontoolkit.org.uk
About Farm Carbon Toolkit
The Calculator is part of the Farm Carbon Toolkit, a Community Interest Company dedicated to helping farmers and growers to transition to climate-positive practices. For over a decade, Farm Carbon Toolkit has delivered a range of practical projects, tools and services that have inspired real action on the ground.
About LANTRA
Lantra are one of the UK and Ireland’s leading awarding bodies for training in the land-based industries, who have been dedicated to developing the land-based workforce for over 40 years. Lantra develop quality training and nationally recognised qualifications, delivered by a carefully selected network of approved training partners. And as a not-for-profit, we put industry needs first. The team in Wales work, through various funded projects to help people access the training, qualifications, skills and knowledge they need. Find out more about our work and how we're making a difference.
About Social Farms & Gardens
Social Farms & Gardens (SF&G) is a UK wide charity supporting communities to farm, garden and grow together.
SF&G:
• Advocate and campaign for greater recognition, funding and opportunities for nature-based activities.
• Provide expert advice, support and a free membership scheme to support communities to grow in sustainable ways.
• Design and deliver innovative training programmes which empower and enable communities to thrive and grow.
• Forge pathways for our members to access commissioned services and demonstrate that they deliver high quality provision.