A YORKSHIRE Dales veterinary surgeon has been awarded a prestigious international scholarship, sponsored by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society.

Miles Middleton, 36, of Skelgill Farm, Askrigg, has been selected for a Nuffield Farming Trust Scholarship, which will see him scrutinise the dairy sector’s role in meeting British agriculture’s net zero greenhouse gas emissions goal.

With farming often portrayed as a climate change problem, rather than part of the solution, Miles is keen to cut through the misinformation and gain a better understanding of how dairy farmers can manage their herds to maximum benefit for both the environment and food production.

Miles said: “There is a lot of dogma and mistruth talked about farming and climate change but when we take the time to look at it properly, there are a lot of interesting trade-offs that are not widely recognized or understood.

“We all know that, ultimately, there is an absolute requirement to produce food, and there is a finite amount of farmland. Farms could reduce their carbon output by moving out of cattle, but we are forgetting all the production required to feed an ever-growing population."

Miles’ year-long scholarship, entitled 'Working Towards Net Zero in the Dairy Sector; trade-offs, opportunity costs and alternative allocations for scarce resources’, will see him visit a variety of dairy farming businesses in different parts of the world to evaluate the opportunities, challenges, strategies, and trade-offs facing the industry as pressure mounts to reduce emissions globally.

The Government has set a target for the UK to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and the National Farmers' Union has set an ambitious goal for the whole of agriculture in England and Wales to meet the same target ten years earlier, by 2040.

He grew up on and lives at the family farm in Wensleydale, which his family has farmed for over eight generations and is now run by his brother Alan. The 92-hectare farm is home to 80 dairy cows run on an autumn calving system, as well as a flock of 100 white faced Texel-crossbred hill sheep.

During his scholarship journey, Miles hopes to visit advanced grazing systems in New Zealand and pioneers of the regenerative agriculture movement in North America. He will examine the use of purchased food, fertiliser, fuel and nutrition management to better understand the trade-offs in meeting net zero targets, and he wants to challenge metrics around measuring the impact of methane released by cattle.

The Yorkshire Agricultural Society has sponsored Nuffield Farming Scholarships for more than four decades. As a registered charity that champions and supports farming families and British agriculture, the society is committed to making a meaningful contribution to the industry.

Nigel Pulling, chief executive officer of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society said: “The society is continually looking to support the professional development of farmers in Yorkshire and for advancement of the industry in our region and beyond.”