Terms & Conditions

Alltech E-CO₂’s models use a certain amount of default data within them to provide ‘best available’ perspectives regarding individual farms. These may be defaults from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in relation to animal emissions which will attempt to quantify emissions by animals, manure and soil processes appropriate for use within specific regions. These defaults are themselves subject to individual standard errors and variation, which can be viewed within the IPCC 2006 guidelines. Where reference to scholarly articles or journals (for example IPCC, 2006) is not possible, then industry data or information from individuals from the sector are used.

Consistent with the PAS2050 approach, any one aspect of a farm which is found to affect the carbon footprint of a farm (per unit of production) by less than 1% does not need to be accommodated as part of the questions asked for that farm.

All data collected through whatever platform will be subject to some initial data checks. These validations will prevent clearly incorrect data from being accepted at the initial collection stage. Both the EA and Swift EA are then subject to some further human data integrity tests. These checks follow a checklist of around 30 individual common problems, the outcome of this is recorded so that common errors for certain field staff can be picked up and addressed by the assessor team leader. If any data issues are found, then the farmer or assessor may be contacted to clarify any points. A short narrative that describes the carbon results will then be written by hand, by this person and will provide personal and meaningful direct feedback to the farmer producer.

We believe we have one of the most robust data management structures in this sector, worldwide and are capable of demonstrating quality and consistency throughout each process involved in carbon footprinting a farmer supply group.

The reliability of results is heavily reliant on the reliability of the farm data collected and inputted. Typically, farm data will be collected independently by Alltech E-CO₂ staff, who themselves will be subject to an extensive training course meaning they are fully briefed on the meaning and interpretations of the questions asked on the farm. Data is collected by bespoke software and managed according to the principles of the Data Protection Act.

The carbon footprint for a producer, usually calculated with a year’s production information, cannot be indefinitely appropriate for that farm.