Smart Calf Rearing Conference 2027 · Cremona, 6–10 March 2027
The footprint of this conference
Five days in Cremona, and people arriving from all over Europe. Almost everything this conference costs the climate is that journey — not the rooms, not the meals, not the lights in the lecture hall. So that is what we measure, and Pro Farmer plants trees in proportion to what comes out.
- Step 1 You say where from Postal code, country, and how you travel. On the names form, optional.
- Step 2 We measure the journeys Distance there and back, by the means of travel, with published emission factors.
- Step 3 That becomes a number of trees Agreed with the planting partner: so many trees for each tonne measured.
- Step 4 Pro Farmer pays for them Planted in Italy, as close to Cremona as the partner can manage.
Every step above can be checked, and the page says where each number comes from. Step 3 is the one where a claim like carbon neutral usually slips in — see below for why it will not.
This page exists because a promise without a method is worth nothing. Here is the method, what it leaves out, and what we will not claim.
What we count, and what we leave out
We count the travel of the people who come: from where each participant sets off to Cremona and back.
We do not count the hotels, the meals, the two venues, or the coaches on the farm day. Not because they are nothing — but because we would have to ask the caterer, the two universities and the coach company for numbers we cannot check, and a figure we cannot check is worse than a figure that is openly partial. If those numbers become available, they go in, and this page says so.
How the number is built
On the form where the names are registered, each participant can give the postal code and country they travel from, and say whether they come by car, by train or by plane. Both are optional. From the postal code we get a distance; from the means of travel, how much that distance costs.
When nobody tells us how they travel, we assume it from the distance — short by road, long by air. It is a rule, not a fact, and it is the weakest part of the whole calculation: the same kilometres by car and by plane differ by roughly a factor of five.
The location works at three levels, and we will publish how many people fell into each:
| Level | From | How close |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | postal code and country | about 10 km — the normal case |
| 2 | town and country | about 20 km |
| 3 | country only | fine for a flight, poor for a car |
That last row is the one to watch. A total with 4% of people at level 3 is solid; one with 40% is not, and you should be able to see which you are reading without asking us.
What we will not write on this page
We will not call this conference carbon neutral, climate neutral, or offset. Not because it sounds too strong, but because it would not be true. A tree planted in 2027 takes twenty to forty years to absorb what it will absorb, and some of the trees planted will not survive. The emissions happen in March 2027; the absorption does not.
What we can say honestly is this: we measured, and we are paying for trees in proportion to what we measured. That is a contribution, and calling it anything else would be a nicer-sounding lie.
What Pro Farmer commits to
Pro Farmer organises this conference, and takes on the planting as the organiser. The number of trees follows the measurement — it is not decided in advance and then announced.
The trees go in Italy, and as near to Cremona as the partner we work with can manage. It costs more per tree than planting in the tropics and the trees grow more slowly. We think it is worth it: you can go and look at them, and so can we.
The estimate appears on this page as bookings come in, and becomes final after the conference, when we know who actually travelled. The name of the planting partner and the number of trees appear here as soon as they are agreed.
Where the figures come from
- Distances from postal codes: the open GeoNames postal code database, used under a Creative Commons Attribution licence.
- Emissions per kilometre: the published conversion factors of the UK Government (DEFRA) and of ADEME, both updated yearly and free to check.
- The frame: ISO 20121 and the GHG Protocol — not to certify anything, but so that every number on this page can be traced back to where it came from.
If something here looks wrong to you, write to smartcalfrearing@profarmer.it. A figure nobody can argue with is a figure nobody has read.