Climate Spheres UK is an innovative start-up on a mission to help UK farmers find ways to thrive, reliably and sustainably, despite our rapidly changing climate.
Many farmers are already feeling the impacts of our changing climate and recognise that the changes will continue to accelerate. But what can they do? How can our family farms adapt to ensure that they will continue to succeed? What financial opportunities might there be for farmers in helping to mitigate climate change?
Climate Spheres UK (CSUK) offers science-based solutions, enabling farmers to adapt to climate change in a robust and cost-effective way. CSUK gives farmers the tools, knowledge and strategy to ensure that their farm is future-proof and remains profitable as the UK climate becomes more extreme, while being well positioned to benefit from the agricultural transition and Net Zero opportunities. CSUK provides data, consultancy, education and guides to funding.
How does Climate Spheres UK work?
Climate Spheres UK focuses on three specific products and services to address adaptation to climate change:
1) CSUK has developed proprietary tools to perform in-depth analysis of the specific agricultural impacts that climate change will have at an individual farm location. Climate change is usually discussed in terms of temperature and rainfall changes over broad areas of the country. However, CSUK’s proprietary model and services enable farmers to understand the specific impacts climate change will have on their specific farm, in terms relevant to the day-to-day running of the farm business.
Based on this, Climate Spheres UK provides advice on financial impact, sustainability, potential risks, and planning focuses, working with the farmer to identify practical adaptation measures and evaluate these based on their effectiveness for the specific farm and its location, the cost and any barriers to implementation.
2) CSUK has identified industrial hemp as a high-potential crop to give farmers a new source of income that benefits soil health and sequesters carbon. There are over 50 varieties that can grow easily in different areas of the UK. CSUK will help farmers find the right variety for their farm, help them select the appropriate seed, advise and assist them in acquiring a growing license and growing the plant, and help them get the seed to market. Hemp is fast growing, and one hemp plant can produce upwards of 3,000 seeds making it potentially highly profitable.
This is an emerging market. Getting in at the start will afford farmers the biggest success. CSUK can find buyers for the waste hemp stalk to produce biochar for use as a soil improver, which sequesters a large amount of carbon dioxide for decades or more, moving the farm towards meeting government net zero goals! It also means the entire plant is used – every part returns value to maximise income.
Before the hemp is even harvested, CSUK will help find a suitable buyer for the seed, giving the farmer a sale and profit source and enabling them to plan forward. Hemp is used for a wide variety of applications from food and beauty products to bioplastics, paper, and building materials – meaning the market opportunity is strong and demand is increasing.
Customers also benefit from Climate Spheres UK’s international network of partners in relevant sectors from bio-chemical providers, seed sellers, academics, and digital solution providers.
3) CSUK is helping farmers to improve their slurry management with state-of-the-art Anaerobic Digesters (AD). CSUK can assist with developing the business plan for maximising economic returns, selecting the right AD unit for the specific farm, plus help with meeting environmental requirements.
“Farmers need to get ahead of the impacts of Climate Change. They need to understand how their specific farm will be affected and what they can do to ensure, not just survival, but profitability, in the future. This is essential, not just for the farmers themselves, but for all of us who rely on farming, in its myriad forms, in the UK. Climate Spheres UK has been created to ensure farmers are able to thrive in a climate-changed future.” Said CSUK co-founder Kevin Holtzclaw.
Climate Spheres UK has recently won the UK 2022 Journey to Net Zero award, hosted by the School of Sustainable Food and Farming and has done pilot projects in England and Wales. It is now launching to the wider farming community and its supply chains, helping them to future-proof their farms and their livelihoods.
For more information see: https://climate-spheresuk.com/
