Working towards carbon neutral dairy farming

Sustainable farming has never been so prevalent. We caught up with Juan Tricarico from the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy to talk about enteric methane emissions and how to get to net zero carbon dairy farming by 2050.

Dairy farms use energy, water and other resources and - at the same time - manage manure and emit enteric methane, to produce the high quality nutritious dairy foods demanded by consumers globally. To reduce the impact on the environment and produce more food with less resources, dairy farmers are expected to adopt sustainable production methods. “Sustainability in farming is a huge topic and so much more prevalent than ten years ago. This is reflected in how the world’s most recognized brands have been making public statements about sustainable practices and sustainability goals around climate change, recycled packaging and soil health by their companies and their suppliers. The fact that these brands have public sustainability goals increases accountability and puts pressure on their supply chain to live up to their promises”, says Juan Tricarico, PhD. vice president of sustainability research at Dairy Management Inc. and the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy.

Implementing the right tools 
Although the public goals made by recognized brands and companies vary, a large portion of their products’ environmental footprints occur at the farm. And the dairy sector already made huge improvements here. A full life cycle assessment of the U.S. dairy sector conducted with 2008 data showed that it contributes only 2% of all U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. According to a more recent analysis by Capper and Cady, the environmental impact of producing a gallon of milk in 2017 shrank significantly, requiring 30% less water, 21% less land and a 19% smaller carbon footprint than it did in 2007. Tricarico says: “These are great steps. And although we must realize that enteric methane is a strong greenhouse gas, dairy farms also produce milk which delivers a high-quality nutrient package that can be difficult to meet with other foods. Nevertheless, the dairy industry is committed to responsible food production and works every day to minimize the GHG emissions from milk production. Making farming more sustainable is often mentioned in the same context as efficiency of resource use. “Considering that the average cow in the U.S. produces roughly 10,000 kilograms of milk a year and the average cow in most low-income countries produces less than 1,000 kilograms, there is a huge gap to close in the global average milk production per cow and resource use efficiency. And whether you want to focus on more milk production in low-income countries or make high-producing cows in high-income countries even more efficient at using resources, it all comes back to implementing the right tools around dairy cow nutrition, health and breeding”, Tricarico addresses. This was the reason why the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy started the Cow of the Future® (COTF) project in 2009. The project defined technologies around dairy cow care, nutrition and breeding a farmer can use to reduce enteric methane, while also improving farm profitability. A wealth of data was gathered through collaboration and shared broadly, including the first-ever practical dairy cow management farm-level resource for reducing enteric methane emissions.  

Going net zero by 2050
The COTF project laid important groundwork on enteric methane mitigation necessary for the U.S. dairy industry to develop 2050 environmental goals and the net zero initiative. Dr. Tricarico: “The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, recently developed the 2050 Environmental Stewardship Goals and the Net Zero Initiative (NZI) that will help U.S. dairy continue to make progress toward these goals. The NZI will enable dairy to provide accessible and affordable nutrition while sequestering carbon and improving soil health through improved land use systems; reducing GHG emissions through feed management, manure management and energy efficiency, and generating renewable energy that can cleanly power vehicles, homes and businesses. The ultimate goal is to become carbon neutral or better, optimize water use while maximizing recycling and improve water quality by optimizing utilization of manure and nutrients. All by 2050. To make progress towards the goals, the U.S. dairy supply chain will work together to identify multiple economically viable pathways for reaching these goals collectively, leveraging the strength of U.S. dairy’s diversity in size, region and practice”.  

Reward and pitch in
When asking about some concrete pathways or tools that farmers can use, Dr. Tricarico is clear. “The use of feed additives to reduce methane emissions and the use of technology to increase health and productivity of the cows are some of the most promising tools that farmers have access to today to transform their business into a more sustainable one. But we shouldn’t forget the socio-economic part of our sustainability mission. With this I mean that farmers should be able to incorporate the innovations, because they are environmentally and productively advantageous, recognized through measurement and recording, and financially and reputationally rewarded. Socio-economic innovation, such as alternative financial mechanisms and technical assistance delivery are critical to achieve this”, he addresses. According to Tricarico there is still a misconception among the general public that using technology is making dairy farming more industrialized and worse. “But we should help the consumers become more familiar with how technology actually increases sustainability. For example, technology equals better animal health and welfare. Great examples of this are sensor technologies or camera vision to monitor cows 24/7 for comfort and health. In the near future, technology should be able to measure the actual methane emissions on farms”.  In practice, many farmers already implement new technologies without other incentives or compensation. Tricarico believes that this should be connected with some sort of financial rewards for the farmer. “Why should farmers carry the entire burden when they are one contributor to a large value chain responsible for putting food on consumers’ tables? I believe everybody in the value chain has to pitch in, including processors, retailers and consumers”. 

Looking at the future
As described by Dr. Tricarico, the dairy sector is moving into the right direction in becoming more sustainable. Farmers are increasingly implementing new farming strategies and recognized brands and companies have public improvement goals that need action and measurement to demonstrate progress. “We are also entering an era where we see more technologies integrated with each other, so we can make best use of the data collected on the farm. On the animal breeding side, constant improvements are seen, and dairy farmers can already choose genetics to produce offspring that are less prone to develop certain diseases. We were not able to do this just a few years ago. Sustainable farming has never been so prevalent and the number of tools and practices those farmers can use is increasing at a rapid pace. In ten years from now, a dairy farm may look different from today, it will simply use resources a lot better and have the means to be and report its contribution to industrywide carbon neutral goals”, Tricarico concludes.