Page 22 - AWA Vol.37 No.4

DAIRY FARMING

BIG DATA EMPOWERS ARLAFARMERS

TO DECARBONISE DAIRY AT A FASTER PACE

Five universal levers benchmark against data from other
The data has revealed five universal Arla farms. What is particularly inter-
levers to a lower carbon footprint for esting is to learn from the high-per-
formers. The data shows that the best
dairy on all types of Arla farms. They
are: performing Arla farmers are able
to produce a kilo of raw milk with
• Better feed efficiency to im- a farm level footprint well below 0,9
Arla’s Climate Checks programme, prove milk yield kg of CO2e.
which is one of the world’s largest ex- • Precision feeding to reduce surplus
ternally validated set of climate data protein in feed rations Data to improve com-
from seven European countries con- • A healthy and long life for the cow to mon knowledge of most
firms that Arla farmers are among the improve milk yield
most climate efficient dairy farmers in • Precise fertilizer management to effective measures
the world. It also provides Arla farm- reduce nitrogen surplus from feed The insights generated from the com-
ers a clear blueprint of what will drive production piled data will be shared within the
further reductions of greenhouse gas cooperative and also presented to pol-
emissions on their farms over the next • Better land use management to en- iticians, research partners and industry
decade. sure better crop yields stakeholders to improve the common
For the last decades, Arla farmers The areas targeted by the five big understanding of what works and
have been working steadily towards levers are explaining the majority of where to focus funding and research
sustainable farming and implement- the differences between the individ- to support the longer-term transition
ing green opportunities on their farms, ual farms’ carbon footprints. The five on farms. It can also counter some of
such as circular farming practices, levers apply to all Arla farms in the the myths and assumptions about what
renewable energy and biodiversity UK, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the needs to be done on farm.
and now also Climate Checks. A total Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg “Dairy has been an important and
of 7,986 farms across seven European regardless of size, geography, breed established part of many food cultures
countries have concluded a Climate or landscape conditions. and economies around the world for
Check using Arla’s new standardised “The data shows that all types of many years because of its nutrient den-
tool for identifying carbon footprint and farms can achieve tangible results if sity, high quality proteins, versatility
the data shows that they are among the precision farming is increased in these and taste. Within the industry we have
most climate efficient in the world. five areas. This helps us significantly always been clear about the responsi-
“We have made a major investment going forward both to lower our CO2e bilities we carry to de-carbonise our
in developing and implementing a sol- footprint and for future investments on production, however, there has been
id model for measuring climate impact farms to help meet our ambitious cli- a lack of robust data at farm level to
on a dairy farm. The unique data set that mate goals,“ says Jan Toft Nørgaard. enable fact-based decision making and
Arla farmers have now created clearly investment,” says Jan Toft Nørgaard.
shows which activities will accelerate A baseline, not a result There are still effects of dairy farm-
our reductions over the next decade. A total of 7,986 Arla farmer owners ing that are not fully scientifically
We will use this to decarbonise our have assessed and submitted data to understood. One example is carbon
farms at a faster pace and share our 203 questions about their herd, feed sequestration that can potentially be
findings with stakeholders to help drive production, energy usage etc. Their an important positive lever to mitigate
an effective transition for the whole in- data has been verified by an external climate change, not least for dairy farm-
dustry. There’s a huge amount of value climate advisor, who has also helped ers who have a lot of grasslands. Arla is
in this for all of us,“ says Arla Foods create the farmer’s action plan for fur- part in a collaboration with Friesland-
Chairman Jan Toft Nørgaard. ther climate reductions based on the Campina, Fonterra, Mars, McDonalds
The independent sustainability Think individual data. and Nestle among others to develop
Tank, The Institute for Environmental The data confirms that Arla farmers internationally recognised and globally
Policy (IEEP) says of Arla’s climate are among the most climate-efficient adopted carbon sequestration calcu-
checks: dairy farmers in the world with 1.15 lation guidelines for the dairy sector
“A year ago we published a report for kg of CO2e per kilo of milk including and when these are in place the aim
ARLA Foods aiming at going beyond peat lands. is to include the impact of carbon se-
questration in the Climate Check mea-
fact checking and turning the existing “We are proud of where we’ve got surement.
evidence into a practical, solution-fo- to, but we are determined to go a lot
cused pathway towards what could further. For us, the number is not a final The relatively low average footprint
be a more sustainable dairy industry. result but a baseline from where we for Arla’s raw milk at farm level is a
It is certainly now very encouraging need to improve. The Climate Checks is result of year-on-year improvements
to see Arla taking the initiative to put a tool to guide our next steps, to accu- made by the cooperative’s farmers
sustainability at the core of their deci- mulate more insight and transparently over the past three decades. In this
sion making and developing tools to measure our progress going forward,” decade of action, they aim to triple the
measure their impact on the ground says Jan Toft Nørgaard. speed of reductions to meet Arla’s sci-
and adapt their practices. These sorts As the next round kicks off in ence-based target of -30 per cent CO2e
of initiatives can be an example for the June, Arla farmers will get access to per kg of milk from 2015 to 2030 and
dairy industry,” says Céline Charveriat, a new digital tool that enables them to become carbon net zero by 2050.
IEEP Executive Director. to follow their own progression and to Circle 24 on enquiry card

20 Vol. 37 No. 4