Page 24 - AWA-41-No.1 issue

DAIRY FARMING

Major retailers join forces with UK dairy farmers

to trial methane-reducing feed additives

ritish farmers that make up
Bthe UK’s biggest dairy coop-
erative, Arla, have joined forces
with some of the biggest retailers
in the country to tackle methane
emissions. In a first of its kind joint
initiative, the project will see a col-
lective effort across the food in-
dustry to trial the use of Bovaer®, a
feed additive that reduces enteric
methane emissions from cows on
average, by 27%*
As part of its FarmAhead™ Cus-
tomer Partnership initiative, Arla
will work alongside retail part-
ners Morrisons and Aldi, and with
Tesco on its new Future Dairy Part-
nership initiative, to highlight how in driving down emissions.” tive initiatives like this between
feed additives can be introduced Arla and its customers are so im-
to normal feeding routines. The Arla’s Bovaer® trial will provide portant for farmers – we need the
new project which will also involve a more practical understanding of wider industry to come together
around 30 of Arla’s farmer own- how to scale the use of feed addi- and support us if we are going to
ers, aims to provide a better un- tives, how it impacts on farm oper- drive change.”
derstanding of how these feed ad- ations and the opportunity to work
ditives can be rolled out across a more collaboratively with the feed As part of its ongoing commit-
larger group of farmers. industry. ment to reducing the impact of
Paul Dover, UK Agricultural Direc- In a joint comment, Morrisons, dairy production, Arla has ambi-
tor at Arla Foods, comments: “We Aldi and Tesco say: “Through col- tious science-based targets, in-
cluding reducing CO2e emissions
know that reducing methane is a laboration as part of Arla’s FarmA-
big opportunity when it comes to head™ Customer Partnership, we from scope 3 by 30% by 2030. Its
improving our carbon footprint at have the ability to address some of FarmAhead™ Customer Partner-
ship brings together retail and
farm level and feed additives like the climate challenges facing our partners like Morrisons and Aldi,
Bovaer® have huge potential in food system. It is this collective ap-
helping us tackle this issue. Bring- proach that is really going to make with Arla’s data and measurement
ing partners together from across a difference. Being involved in us- tools. This allows customers to
the food & grocery industry in this ing a feed additive is a great way support farmers with innovation,
kind of initiative highlights the of testing out where we can drive research and new ways of driving
support there is for British farmers change at scale to bring down down emissions to lead on-farm
in transitioning to more sustain- emissions.” sustainability and be at the fore-
able farming methods. Andrew Barraclough, Arla Farmer front of decarbonising dairy.
“We are extremely excited about owner and one of those involved in Arla and Tesco also recently an-
this new collective way of work- using Bovaer® comments: “Work- nounced the Future Dairy Part-
ing alongside our retail partners ing on initiatives that help reduce nership, a farmer-led partnership
and the possibilities that feed ad- our impact on the environment which aims to put sustainability at
ditives, such as this one, present. is something that I am extremely the heart of the dairy industry. The
Howev er, rolling passionate about. We know that Future Dairy Partnership aims to
them out at scale will not be easy feed additives have a lot of poten- accelerate the reduction of carbon
due to the cost involved, so it’s im- tial in helping us to reduce emis- emissions, enhance animal welfare
portant we understand more about sions, but they can be expensive, and protect and restore nature,
their usage potential and then which adds to the overall cost in whilst promoting a shared vision
work together with the industry, producing milk. Farmers are trying for the dairy industry to collabo-
government and our partners to to accelerate the transition to more rate to build a more resilient and
support farmers if we want to har- sustainable dairy farming, but we sustainable future.
ness the opportunity they present can’t do it alone. It’s why collec- Circle 29 on enquiry card
22 Vol. 41 No. 1