Page 22 - AWA Vol. 42-No.4 issue

Dairy FarmiNg

First milk and agricarbon Show Early Evidence of Soil Carbon
gains under regenerative Dairy Farming

test of remeasurement rather than a
statistically representative sample of
the wider First Milk membership. The
findings therefore provide clear in-
sight into trends at these individual
farms, while the upcoming remeasure-
ment programme will assess the extent
to which similar trends are observed
across the co-operative’s wider network
of more than 700 farms.
Alan Strong, CFO and co-founder of
Agricarbon, said: “Direct measurement
is the most robust way to understand
what is happening in soils. These early
re-measurement results show that,
where farming practices are changing,
measurable increases in soil carbon
can occur over relatively short periods
of time.”
Early results from one of the largest extremely encouraging and reinforces The work comes at a time when new
soil carbon measurement programmes the direction our farmers are taking.” global guidance on land-based carbon
in UK dairy show measurable increases “By investing in direct measurement accounting is emerging. The recently
in soil carbon stocks on farms adopting and building a high-quality dataset, published Land Sector and Removals
regenerative practices. we are ensuring that the environmen- Standard (LSRS) under the Greenhouse

British farmer-owned dairy co-opera- tal performance of our farms is backed Gas Protocol places clear emphasis on
tive First Milk, working with soil carbon by robust evidence. Over the coming direct measurement, robust datasets
measurement specialist Agricarbon, months we will be building on this and transparent reporting of soil car-
bon.
has undertaken interim re-sampling on work as more data becomes available
three member farms nearly four years from our wider programme. Our goal is Because of its baseline programme,
after establishing a large-scale soil car- to build one of the strongest evidence First Milk holds one of the largest con-
bon baseline. bases for regenerative dairy farming temporary soil carbon datasets in the
outcomes anywhere in the world.” dairy farming world, positioning the co-
The early findings show soil carbon
stocks increased on all three farms, with Between 2021 and 2022, First Milk operative as a leader in building robust
average gains of 8.9tC/ha (8.2T CO2e/ partnered with Agricarbon to establish evidence for regenerative dairy farm-
ing.
ha/year) and a positive relationship ob- a high-integrity soil carbon baseline
served between the level of regenera- across 109 farms, sampling soils to one A full five-year remeasurement pro-
tive farming activity and the degree of metre depth using laboratory-based gramme beginning later this year will
carbon increase observed. While the DUMAS analysis. The programme anal- expand sampling across the First Milk
results apply only to the farms re-sam- ysed around 118,000 soil samples, cre- membership, growing the dataset and
pled so far and cannot be extrapolated ating one of the most comprehensive enhancing understanding of how farm-
more widely, they provide encouraging datasets on soil carbon in dairy farming ing practices influence soil carbon in
early evidence that regenerative farm- globally. dairy systems. While the interim remea-
ing practices are delivering measur- Three farms approaching their four- surement dataset is too small to draw
able improvements. year anniversary were selected for early conclusions on which practices are driv-

Mark Brooking, Chief Impact Officer re-measurement to assess whether de- ing the greatest impact, the expanded
at First Milk, said: “There has been a tectable changes in carbon stocks could programme commencing later in 2026
lot of debate about whether soil carbon be observed. Across all three farms will provide the scale needed to answer
these questions with confidence.
can be measured reliably and whether measured soil carbon stocks increased,
sequestration can be demonstrated at although the magnitude of change var- The results will help provide practical
farm level. What these results show is ied between farms. The farms with the guidance for First Milk farmers on man-
that when you measure properly, and highest improvement in regenerative aging soils to protect and increase soil
when farmers adopt regenerative prac- scores also showed the biggest increase carbon, while supporting future carbon
tices, we can see real changes happen- in carbon stocks. reporting frameworks across the dairy
ing in the soil. This is early data, but it is The farms were selected as an early sector. Circle 26 on enquiry card
20 Vol. 42 No. 4