Farm leaders hit back at ex-Defra scientist's climate change claims

摘要

Fanning organisations have reacted angrily to climate change comments by Defra's former chief scientific adviser, Professor Sir Ian Boyd. Speaking to the BBC, he dubbed the UK's current farming system "very inefficient and in need of very significanttransformation". Professor Boyd, who held the Defra post from 2012 until earlier this year, suggested that intensive high-tech cattle and sheep rearing systems were more carbon-efficient than traditional, extensive pasture-based ones, and called for a change in red meat eating habits. "All the evidence tells us that intensive farming done well is much more environmentally friendly than extensive farming," he said.NFU Cymru president John Davies said he "fundamentally disagreed" with that assessment, adding that extensive grass and clover-based systems were synonymous with producing high-quality protein.