The SLLC food grade anti-fouling technology can provide an anti-fouling film on the stainless steel heat exchanger surface to avoid or minimize fouling (milk protein fouling and water scaling) during milk processing in dairy industry, increase energy efficiency and substantially reduce the cleaning time, energy cost and GHG emissions.

The food grade SLLC coating technology was tested with the aim of increasing the productivity. A standard pasteurizer with productivity of 28,000 tons of milk/year was studied. With the help of the SLLC anti-fouling technology, the heat transfer efficiency increased by over 16% during processing, which resulted in 10% more production capacity and a cut in energy use of 270.8 MWh per month.

The GHG emission for fresh milk processing dropped from 0.154 to 0.137 kg CO2 equivalents per kg milk, which saved 17 kg of CO2 per ton of milk production. For the down time cleaning process, the concentration of alkali was reduced by 50% and the acid consumption decreased by 30%. The cleaning time decreased from 1.5 h to 30 min.

Summary:
A pilot research project had been carried out by the National Dairy Research Institute in India to investigate the impact of using natural plant feed supplements to reduce methane emissions and environment-friendly management in milking goats.
So far, the results indicate that the use of selected plants increases milk yield per goat by about 10% compared to traditional feed resources in India, decreases methane emissions per goat and increase the profitability of milk production for farmers.
The experimental pilot project is planned to extend to dairy operations under normal conditions and can also be applied to other milking species such as buffaloes and cows.
The project has sub-continent wide application in India.

Smartlife® Sustainability Consultancy Services has performed a specific life cycle assessment (LCA) at Agriform, an important cheese customer of Sealed Air Corporation, located in Italy. The study looked into the role packaging has in improving the sustainability of hard cheese portion packs along the entire supply chain and highlighted key carbon footprint reduction drivers such as:

• Reduced packaging weight;
• Reduced package volume;
• Allocation of carbon footprint of secondary packaging to more packs per box;
• Allocation of transport emissions to more packs per truck.

In addition, the study identified a significant sustainability “hot spot”, which is the relationship between quantity of grated cheese produced (lower value by-product as a result of chunk production process) and the type of packaging requested by market.

The worldwide dairy sector is progressing in actions which focus on reduction of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the milk and dairy supply chain. The first reporting session of the Global Dairy Agenda for Action on Climate Change (GDAA) was held at the IDF World Dairy Summit, Parma, Italy on October 19, 2011.

Follow the link to learn more and download the presentations with a full 2009-2011 progress report: view article...

Brazzale, the oldest Italian dairy company, has created an innovative dairy chain in Moravia, a region of the Czech Republic. The chain consists in a network of 62 farms, coordinated directly from Brazzale technicians, with an extension of almost 100,000 hectares of agricultural land providing feed for more than 15,000 high breeding value dairy cows.

Here are the key commitments of Brazzale used in production of the company’s flag ship cheese, Gran Moravia:

• the allocation of 5 hectares minimum of land for each single bovine in lactation;
• the free stabling with individual berths for more than 90% of cattle raised;
• a load of nitrates per hectare seven times lower than the EU limits;
• a ten times more restrictive thresholds for the presence of aflatoxins in animal feed than the one indicated by law.
  

The eco-sustainable supply chain has been certified for food safety according to ISO 22005 standard on traceability in the feed and food chain (UNI EN ISO 22005:2008).

Inner Mongolia Mengniu Group has set up green industry chain, from farm to consumer. In 2011, Mengniu joined WWF China's "Carbon Reduction Pioneer" programme and committed to 5 year carbon reduction goals. It invested 6 mio RMB to establish first eco-grassland fund in China, supporting sustainable and ecological deployment of grassland. Its "green cash model" covers methane power generation, waste water and package recycling.

Mengniu is building a methane power generation plant, the Mengniu Aoya Modern Farm. Per day, this will be able to generate 11K cubic meters of methane, generating 30,000 kWh of electricity and 35 tonnes of organic fertiliser.

Mengniu has also invested 400 mio RMB into processing waste water, 15 mio tonnes reached 1st level standards of waste water discharge, and is reused. In terms of packaging, Mengniu committed to use carton material from sustainable certified forests, which meets low carbon and green standards.

The Mengniu sustainability programme has won the 2011 IDF Dairy Innovation Award for the Best environmental sustainability initiative.

The Road map to an energy neutral dairychain ('Routekaart voor een energieneutrale zuivelketen' in Dutch) is a project falling under The Sustainable Dairy Chain commitment of the Dutch dairy sector 'Duurzame Zuivelketen' to reduce GH emissions by 30% in 2020, compared to 1990.

The Dutch dairy sector is working hard to protect the environment and consume less energy. The ambition is to achieve energy-neutral production by 2020 with a subsequent climat-neutral growth. This means that the chain – from the dairy farm with is suppliers, the dairy factory up to the customers will sustainably generate as much energy as it consumes. To achieve this goal important steps need to be taken. The Road map identifies the way forward. The dairy farm of the future produces sustainable energy for itself and for others. Manure digestion, wind and solar energy to generate green electricity will play an important role to reach the objectives.

Follow the links below or see the following video to learn more:

The Dairy Self Assessment Tool (DairySAT) is the Australian dairy industry pre-farm gate environmental self assessment tool. It covers 10 key topic areas: Soils, Fertilisers, Effluent Management, Irrigation, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Native Vegetation and Waterways, Energy and Water in the Dairy, Pests and Weeds, Chemicals, Farm Waste.

DairySAT is designed to enable farmers:

• understand the environmental issues facing their farm;
• benchmark where their environmental practices sit compared to industry-wide practices;
• identify the most critical environmental issues on their farm;
• know the legal and dairy company requirements in relation to the environment; and
• understand those issues where they need more information, and be provided with key contacts for the issues.

DairySAT is available in hard copy or on line. Follow the link below. DairySAT is a key component of all Australian dairy industry natural resource management (NRM) and climate change programs delivered by milk companies, regional Natural Resource Management bodies, state agencies, Landcare groups, State Farming Organisations and Regional Dairy Programs.

If the cows aren’t happy, nobody’s happy. That’s the philosophy at Fair Oaks Farms in Fair Oaks, Ind., which houses 30,000 cows on 10 dairy sites owned by the Bos, den Dulk, McCloskey, Schakel and Van Ravenswaay families. Fair Oaks Farms are environmentally conscious dairy farms that place a special emphasis on animal husbandry, which is casually referred to as cow comfort.

”Cow comfort is one of the most important things a dairy farmer can do for his or her cows,” says Mike McCloskey, president of Fair Oaks Farms and a licensed veterinarian. ”When animals are happy and treated well, they respond by producing a greater amount of milk.”

Each of the happy cows at Fair Oaks Farms produces almost 10 gallons of milk per day, which is enough fluid milk to supply all the citizens of Chicago with milk each year, McCloskey said. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average dairy cow produces six gallons of milk per day.

A study was conducted by the scientists from the Maharashtra Animal & Fishery Sciences University, Nagpur, India. The study shows that on-farm cattle waste management with the use of constructed soil pits with partial ventilation according to the NADEP Technology and production of biogas from waste will help to control methane load in the atmosphere in India.

If funding for construction of such waste pits and community biogas production units is available at each village of six hundred twenty four district of India, there will not only be reduction in methane emissions but India may become self-sufficient in energy resources.

This will also contribute to enhance the fertility and water holding capacity of soil which promotes agricultural economy and reduction in use of chemical fertilizers.

Arla’s new environmental strategy for 2020 aims high.

From focusing exclusively on the impact from production, transport and packaging, the recently completed strategy plan now encompasses the entire environmental impact of dairy products - right from the farm to the consumers’ wheelie bins.

Arla Foods is building a flexible, efficient, fresh milk dairy to the highest environmental standards at Aston Clinton, Aylesbury.

In line with Arla’s strategy, the facility would not only build new platforms for growth and improve performance in standard milk, but would also help Arla achieve its environmental strategy.

Using the best available techniques Arla aims for the site to be zero carbon and will achieve this through:

• 40 percent from construction technologies, such as maximising natural light, to ensure the building itself has the lowest possible carbon footprint
• 20 percent from process technologies, such as heat and materials recovery
• 40 percent from use of renewable energy

http://www.dairy-sustainability-initiative.org/Public/RSS/Arla-Trials-Revolutionary-Fuel-Cell---United-Kingdom2011-10-13T09:14:14Z

Medeiros & Son Dairy has come a long way in its 17 years. The 2,400-cow dairy in Hanford, Calif., U.S.A., started out as a 64-cow farm when Brian Medeiros and his parents began milking cow for themselves in 1994. When the family originally moved to America from Portugal in 1987, Brian’s dad, Rui milked cows for another dairy in Southern California. However Rui had a dream to become an entrepreneur, where his family would have their own farm, with their own cows. Today, the farm produces 62 million pounds of milk a year, contributing to California’s distinction as the largest dairy state in the United States.

To remain economically and environmentally sustainable, Brian and his father focus on quality and efficiency.

“We are trying to make a difference on our farm by considering the information and technology available to us,” Brian says. “We are trying to make a difference so we can survive in the future, and continue to provide for all of our stakeholders. I don’t just work for myself or my family, but for all of the families that consume our milk as a staple in their diet.”

Brian and his family have implemented environmentally sustainable efforts since the beginning — water is recycled 5 to 6 times before it is used as a nutrient for their crops; and fibers from the manure are composted and then used for bedding.

David and Jane Homer farm 220 milking cows in central southern England. They rear their own replacement stock and grow grass, maize and wheat as feed for these animals, minimising the amount of feed purchased from external sources.

Having undertaken carbon foot printing over a 5-year period, the Homer’s have been able to identify where key areas, that if focused on, would increase the efficiency of production and also reduce the emissions related to their production system. Feeding of the animals was one of these areas.

Actions taken:

• By including up to 25% clover in the grazing land, not only is the quantity of ‘natural nitrogen’ increased in the soil, grazing dry matter production has increased by approximately 20%;
• Though high yielding cows, the cows are producing considerably more of their milk from grass resulting in a 16% reduction in purchased concentrates;
• Production of high quality silages;
• Measurement of daily feed intakes by the cows and aligning this with the animals production;
• Measurement of grass growth and allocation to the cows planned accordingly;
• Ensuring that the cows are able to have easy access to all food stuffs;
• Consider animal health and welfare as fundamental to any development in the system.

http://www.dairy-sustainability-initiative.org/Public/RSS/Nutrient-Management---David-and-Jane-Homer,-England2011-10-10T11:19:06Z

Teagasc has identified using Life Cycle Analysis a number of cost effective practices that farmers can readily adopt nationally, which will reduce their carbon footprint per unit of milk through improved production efficiency (Lovett et al., 2008; O’Brien et al., 2010). The key measures identified were increasing the length of the grazing season, increasing the genetic merit of the herd and better nutrient management.

Increasing the length of the grazing season by 10 days is expected to reduce GHG per unit of product by 1.7%. Similarly, greater use of AI to improve the genetic merit of the herd by 10 units will reduce the carbon footprint of dairy production by 2%. Improvements in nutrient management and greater use of legumes such as white clover will contribute to reducing GHG emissions by reducing farm N surpluses e.g. reducing farm N surplus by 25 kg ha decreases the carbon footprint by 1.5%.

RumenGases project is a specific project component of the PECUS Research Network.

RumenGases will investigate conceptual advances in methane diagnostics and mitigation strategies from ruminants in Brazil. A reference methodological centre for enteric methane measurement involving the use of chambers, SF6 tracer gas technique and in vitro methodologies will be created. Mitigation strategies involving improvements in livestock systems and feed practices will be tested. A screening of five hundred substrates obtained from Brazilian tropical biodiversity will be carried out to identify potential substances for enteric methane mitigation.

Main expected outcomes are:

• to develop strategies of enteric methane mitigation, besides bringing benefits to the environment, provide greater productivity and profitability for tropical livestock systems,
• to contribute with national greenhouse gases inventories data,
• to estimate the contribution of Brazilian methane enteric production to GHG,
• to identify mitigation management practices which would enhance both competitiveness and sustainability of livestock farming in Brazil,
• to identify Brazilian flora substances as potential additives for enteric methane mitigation, and
• to provide scientists, government agencies, livestock industry and society with reliable enteric methane emissions data based on local conditions (e.g. specific emission factors as most of available data to data comes from temperate zones of the globe only).
  

Brazil is the world’s sixth biggest producer of cow’s milk that is being produced in very diverse farming/climatic situations and landscapes across the country.

In order to increase and improve scientific data about the actual contribution of livestock, including dairy cattle to total GHG emissions in Brazil, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) launched the PECUS Research Network.

Main expected outcomes are:

• to estimate the contribution of different Brazilian animal production systems to GHG dynamics including methane diagnosis and carbon sequestration,
• to determine mitigation potential of improved pasture management and integrated farming systems (crop-livestock; crop-livestock-forest),
• to identify mitigation management practices which would enhance both competitiveness and sustainability of livestock farming in Brazil, and
• to provide scientists, government agencies and society with reliable GHG data based on local conditions (e.g. specific emission factors as most of available data to data comes from temperate zones of the globe only).
  

Fonterra was aware that there were large variations in the emissions efficiency levels of the company’s milk supply, even within a single region. Previous studies also showed that the lowest emissions farmers were also the most profitable. This variation represented potential emissions reductions – if every farmer could perform at the efficiency level of the best farmers, emissions could be greatly reduced while farmers could increase profit.

Before developing supplier extension programmes, Fonterra wanted to find out if these variations were driven by different farm conditions, such as rainfall, topography, temperature and soil type, or due to different farm management. Fonterra commissioned AgResearch to answer this question. AgResearch took a sample of farms from five different regions in New Zealand that were known to have different average emissions (149 farms in total). AgResearch then performed carbon footprint analysis for each farm. Using farm information they were then able to conclude that carbon footprint variations were predominantly management driven.

This is good news for Fonterra as it means there is a large potential to work with dairy farmers to reduce the carbon footprint of the company’s milk supply, while also improving farm economics, simply through improving dairy farm management. Fonterra is applying this knowledge to development of programmes that support farmers in making further emissions reductions and reducing between farm emissions variation.

1. Food recyclability increased through improved treatment of wastes during distribution and storage.
A new group was founded within the Logistics Department in October 2009 to dedicate itself to enforce the improvement of food recyclability. There is an initiative to use food downgraded that arose during distribution for feeding purposes. It started off as a regional initiative, which later became national. The quantity of skim-milk powder in particular was increased for recycling as demonstrated in the present file, giving 975kg in 2008, 2,000kg in 2009 and 21,825kg in 2010 with the marked recyclability for the last three years.

2. Disposed food products were reduced.
A Long Life products Management team served to unify controlling national inventory for long life dairy products and each regional logistics center worked harder to improve accuracy of foreseeing market demand. This resulted in the approximately 50% reduction of wasted long life dairy products.

3. Reduction of energy and carbon dioxide emission was achieved due to introduction of environmental friendly delivery vehicles and improved delivery efficiency.

• More delivery vehicles were introduced to those fuel saving types when they became old and need to be renewed;
• Vehicle allocation centers worked harder to be effective in unitarily controlling transportation between shipping yards in the entire country;
• As for delivery to customers, each regional logistics center uses a unique distribution control system and vehicle allocation system to review vehicle carrying efficiency and traffic routes on a daily basis for its relevant selection of vehicle size.
  
  

The study explored the environmental performance and sustainability of a milking production system with different levels of intensification. Emergy evaluation method was used. It provides a proper framework to investigate integrally the biophysical support and socio-economic context and allows to explore the resource and the biophysical constraints of a milking production system.

We first studied a milking production system strictly integrated to local agriculture. The study named 'Emergy Accounting Of An Integrated Grazing-Milking System In Argentina´s Pampas' by Rótolo,G.; Charlón,V.; Franzese, P.P. (2010) was published on the Proceedings of the 6th Biennial Emergy Evaluation and Research Conference. M.T, Brown et al. (eds.), Gainesville, Florida. See the file attached.

It was found out that the integrated agriculture-cattle system for milk production showed a better appropriation of local renewable resources and a lower environmental load than the two sub-systems run in a separate way.
Further studies are needed to evaluate the opportunity to invest more in fattening calves instead of selling them 2-3 days after their birth. This option could improve the performance of the product (calves + culled cows) but it could also lead to an increase of manure and methane production. Waste manure from the milking house, not recycled, should be managed in a proper way, using it as an ecosystem service.

The second step now is to study an intensified milking production system which is not integrated with agriculture. An applied research pilot is also foreseen.

The results of the studies aim to implement a more efficient and environmental friendly management while improving farmers' profitability.

The effluent treatment system INTA Rafaela was developed considering two sustainability management principles: to implement practices to reduce effluent generation, and to define a treatment system and final destination of effluents, taking into account legal and environmental aspects.

The steps are:

• Water from the cooled plate is stored in a tank and is used as drinking water and for cleaning floors.
• Effluents are collected in a chamber and pumped to a screen where it retains a large fraction of the solids. The resulting liquid fraction flows by gravity to a triple treatment lagoons. After the effluent passes through a filter of stones, and stored for use in washing the floors of poultry (50% recovered from the effluent generated).
• The solids recovered (130kg manure per 100 milk cows) on the screen are stored in the beach area and then distributed in the field.

For more information see the file below.

In 2007 when fertiliser prices started spiralling, the Roddau's switched from urea to chicken as the main source of nitrogen on their combined dairying and commercial flower farm. Initially a cost-cutting exercise this manure is now winning favour in terms of sustainability.

Manures are a slow-release fertiliser with the nutrients from one application of chicken manure each year being released over the next four years. About half of the remaining organic nitrogen is mineralised each year. Subsequently in 2009 trials were set up on Roddau's farm by the state Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries to compare ryergrass and kikuyu yields from manure (Entec) and urea fertiliser applications. The results were surprising - see the file below.

The Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform has continued to examine metrics and indicators for assessing the sustainability of farming.
Beginning with principles and practices for sustainable agriculture, SAI Platform has subsequently developed an initial catalogue of indicators in the Sustainability Performance Assessment (SPA) project, with a report published in 2010 entitled 'Towards a Simple Set of Farm-level Sustainability Indicators'.
This is a work in progress, and in 2011 there was a second phase that will provide further information on the selection of the most practical indicators for measuring, monitoring and reporting sustainability performance, which will in turn contribute to better insight into available calculator tools. Within the SAI Platform Dairy Working Group, Members selected nine key indicators of sustainability at the farm level to focus on.
The Working Group aims to share Member companies’ experiences and knowledge around the use of metrics in these nine areas, in order to promote discussion and consideration by the dairy supply chain and stakeholders as to the appropriate metrics for dairy.
For additional information, follow the link below:

The NDDB tested a ration balancing programme in six states. As part of the program field studies were conducted in different parts of the country including the Rae Bareli district of Uttar Pradesh State.

Considering the availability of feed resources with the milk producers and the stage of lactation balanced rations worked out for the milch animals. In the study, the average methane emission was reduced by 20.74% and 20.23% g/kg milk yield in observed lactating buffaloes and crossbred cows respectively (n=13) which was significantly (P<0.01) lower as compared to the baseline emissions. Balancing of ration significantly (P<0.01) improved the milk yield (kg/day) and milk fat (%) in buffaloes and milk yield in cows.

• Fonterra has a diverse range of milk collection initiatives focused on reducing the kilometres travelled by our milk tankers.
• This includes investing in more fuel and emissions efficient tankers and moving milk transport from road to rail.

Read on...

For farmers to meet the needs of food security, targets for GHG emissions reduction, grow crops successfully in a changing climate and remain competitive into the future, forages will need to deliver:

• High yields
• Resource use efficiency
• A good fit to the future UK climate
• Value as a protein source
• Potential to improve food security and reduce carbon footprint of livestock production

New opportunities for forage species sought to identify the opportunities that climate change and plant breeding can bring for British dairy farmers. The impact of higher feed prices provides an additional incentive for greater reliance on home grown produce therefore helping to make the dairy industry sustainable well into the future. The findings from this important project are being incorporated into current DairyCo literature. The report can be downloaded via the attached link.

Completion date: November 2010

In May 2008, the Dairy Supply Chain Forum through an industry wide working group identified a set of ambitious environmental reduction targets for the fluid milk supply chain. The dairy supply chain has made significant progress since the development of the original document. The release of the Dairy Roadmap in May 2011 not only reports on the progress made against the agreed 2010 targets, it now also encompasses more than just the fluid milk, which is indicative of the extent to which the whole dairy sector has adopted and is committed to delivering the targets associated with this initiative.

Progress to date is encouraging, though the sector is aware that it cannot rest as the targets for 2015 and 2020 are just as challenging!

The Dairy Roadmap is a ‘living’ document and future targets are under constant review to ensure the industry is continually challenging itself and taking account of evolving external factors.

Download the report from the link below.

DairyCo has committed £5 million to be spent over the next five years on two new Research Partnerships which will deliver practical research to British dairy farmers. The ambitious plan of research and development starting in 2011 will be conducted by a consortium of partners across Britain. The research will focus on two main areas:

The first, Soil, Forage and Grassland, will be led by the Scottish Agricultural College (partnering Harper Adams University College and Reading University).

The second, Health, Welfare and Nutrition, will be led by Nottingham University (partnering Harper Adams University College, Royal Veterinary College, Bristol University, Scottish Agricultural College, and University of Aberystwyth (IBERS).

The results of the research will feed directly into DairyCo’s own technical guides and knowledge transfer activities, as well as being promoted for wider use by other industry stakeholders.

Thisisdairyfarming.com is DairyCo’s consumer website, launched in 2010 to provide interested consumers and members of the press with facts about British dairy farming.

The aim of the website is to inform and engage consumers by presenting the realities of modern dairy farming and dispel myths associated with the subject. With web searches related to dairy farming frequently returning the views of pressure groups critical of the industry, a consumer-friendly presence on the web is essential.

• Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory replaced an inefficient gas flow control valve with a linear valve and reduced gas consumption by 4%, saving about 420 tonnes of GHG emissions and 7356 GJ of natural gas per year. This has had a pay back period of less than two years.
• Warrnambool Cheese and Butter replaced a natural gas hot water heater at the treatment plant with a duel fuel system to take advantage of biogas produced from the anaerobic wastewater treatment plant. Biogas replacement of natural gas in hot water heaters, saves about 1,600 tonnes of GHG emissions per year.
• Installation of site CIP nano-filtration cleanup system in 2009 has saved 333 tonnes per year of caustic & 33 ML of water, reducing sodium concentration and volume of waste water.
• Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory reduced electricity consumption by undertaking an audit of its compressed air system and repairing leaks. Preventative maintenance of the system now saves 1200 tonnes CO2-e per year.
  

In 2007 in an unprecedented pre-competitive collaboration, leaders and experts from within and outside the U.S. dairy industry have joined together to identify and deploy sustainability innovations that make good business sense. Our initiative began with a definition of sustainability for our industry: To provide consumers with the nutritious dairy products they want in a way that makes our industry, the earth and its people economically, environmentally and socially better — now and for future generations.

Today, more than 500 dairy stakeholders from every segment of the value chain — including environmental, academic and scientific experts — are working together on 10 greenhouse gas reduction projects that capitalize on those opportunities. By 2020, the projects are estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 11 percent and increase business value by $238 million per year in today’s dollars.

The U.S. Dairy Sustainability Commitment includes a more ambitious voluntary goal to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of fluid milk by 25 percent by 2020.

In December 2010, the first annual U.S. Dairy Sustainability Commitment Progress Report was published to demonstrate the industry's progress toward reducing our environmental impact.

The Sustainable Dairy Chain initiative ('Duurzame Zuivelketen' in Dutch) embodies the commitment of the Dutch dairy industry to take significant steps concerning three major themes:

• Energy and Climate;
• Animal health and welfare;
• Grazing, and
• Biodiversity (closing of mineral loops, sustainable soy, landscape conservation).

Working together, dairy farmers and the processing industry have set collective goals. These goals are being pursued more specifically through a number of ongoing projects. For more information on their progress, see the attached 2010 annual report “Breakthrough in sustainability”.

http://www.dairy-sustainability-initiative.org/Public/RSS/Developing-a-Dairy-Farm-Stewardship-Toolkit---USA2011-08-22T17:21:09Z

From its policy, Conaprole is commited to an efficient use of resources. There are many ways in which we are achieving that compromise. One of them is to closely work with local cooperatives of classifiers/sorters to manage waste at two of Conaprole's industrial plants.

At the "San Ramon" plant, we developed an onsite classification program. The various fractions are then sent to a cooperative of classifiers located in the near area. The work is done in agreement with the local government, who awarded us for the second consecutive year with the Canaria's Certificate of Environmental Quality and Social Responsibility in Solid Waste Management.

Since its inauguration in 2004, the Conaprole "CIM" plant has been cooperating with a specially created cooperative of classifiers. With the support of an NGO (San Vicente) it was possible to formalize a cooperative that works through the management of our waste.

These initiatives enable more efficient use of resources. Due to them sorted waste can be recycled thanks to the contribution of formal cooperatives. In this manner, forty additional people have been employed and two hundred trained.

This project funded by DairyCo works with the E-CO2 Project to identify key 'hot spots' on-farm to improve business efficiency, which will automatically reduce the farm’s carbon footprint.

The baseline measurement for carbon footprints of the 415 dairy farms involved in the study has been undertaken and will be reported in July 2011. The final reports for year two and three of the project will be issued in January 2012 and January 2013 respectively.

This important and valuable project also works with the Guidelines for the carbon footprinting of dairy products in the UK (mentioned below) and the IDF guidelines ‘A common carbon footprint approach for Dairy: The IDF guide to standard lifecycle assessment methodology for the dairy sector.

Completion date: Spring 2013

Initiated in 2009 by DairyCo, Dairy UK and the Carbon Trust, these guidelines apply the methodology of the Publically Available Specification 2050 (PAS 2050) to ensure that the dairy sector has a common approach to measuring carbon footprints of milk pools and milk fields. The guidelines are available to download from the link below.

The NDDB has taken up various initiatives on quality semen production and efficient artificial insemination (A1) delivery network. These initiatives have helped in reducing inter calving interval. Reduction in inter calving interval helps in increasing the productive life of animals due to which dry matter consumption per liter of milk is less in the entire lifespan of an animal. This in turn helps in reducing methane emission per litre of milk.

Thus various breed improvement programmes of NDDB are helping in reducing methane emission per litre of milk.

To enhance the genetic potential of animals and to reduce the inter calving interval, NDDB has initiated various breed improvement programmes which help not only in improving productivity but also in reducing methane emission per litre of milk.

These programmes include production of progeny tested bulls of various breeds with higher genetic potential. Pedigreed animals have better feed conversion efficiency, therefore methane emission per litre of milk is reduced as the feed consumption per litre of milk is less by the animals of superior genetic potential.

Under the fodder development programme, NDDB is arranging supply of good quality fodder seeds to farmers, so that more biomass is produced with less area and more milk is produced resulting in reduction in carbon footprint per kg of milk.

NDDB is helping various milk unions in establishing units for densification and enrichment of crop residues. The enriched feed improves milk production. Densification also helps in reduction of fossil fuels used for transportation of biomass.

The NDDB has established eleven bypass protein feed plants in India, each plant of 50 tonnes/ day capacity.

Feeding bypass protein leads to improvement in milk produciton and therefore reduction in carbon footprint per kg milk.

The NDDB has established 21 mineral mixture plants throughout India with a production capacity of more than 70,000 tonnes.

The use of mineral mixture in the ration reduces the mineral deficiency resulting in improvement in milk productivity per animal thereby reducing the GHG emission load per litre of milk.

The NDDB tested a ration balancing programme in six states. As part of the programme field studies were conducted in different parts of the country including the Nanded district of Maharashtra State.

Considering the availability of feed resources with the milk producers and the stage of lactation balanced rations worked out for the milch animals. In the study, the average methane emission were reduced by 19.38% in terms of g/kg milk yield in observed lactating buffaloes (n=26) which was significantly (P<0.01) lower as compared to the baseline emissions. Balancing of ration significantly (P<0.01) improved the milk yield (kg/day) and milkfat (%) in buffaloes.

The NDDB tested a ration balancing programme in six states. As part of the programme field studies were conducted in different parts of the country including the Chittor district of Andhra Pradesh State.

Considering the availability of feed resources with the milk producers and the stage of lactation balanced rations worked out for the milch animals. In the study, the average methane emission was reduced by 15.39% in terms of g/kg milk yield in lactating cows (n=30), which was significantly (P<0.05) lower from teh baseline emissions. Balancing of ration also significantly improved the milk yield (kg/day) in cows.

The NDDB tested a ration balancing programme in six states. As part of the programme field studies were conducted in different parts of the country including the Junagadh district of Gujarat State with balanced rations worked out for the milch animals.

Twenty-two lactating Jaffarabadi buffaloes and five Gir cows were selected for the study. An average reduction of 17.99% and 17.25 % methane emission, in terms of g/kg milk yield was observed in lactating buffaloes and cows respectively, which was significantly (P<0.01) lower from the baseline emissions. Ration balancing also significantly improved the milk yield (kg/day) and milk fat (%) in both the species.

To be sustainable, Robert has planted shelter belts, protected mature native trees and is using natural fertilizers such as Eco Fish granules and switching over to humus fertilizers to improve soil quality. Robert believes that healthy soils create better quality pastures and healthy stock (cows). Healthier cows will produce more milk. Robert sows perennial rye grass and grows lucerne to feed his cows. The end result is a win-win for both the farmer in terms of high milk production per cow and improved environmental management and outcomes for his dairy farm. Refer to the following video:

http://www.dairy-sustainability-initiative.org/Public/RSS/Reducing-and-measuring-carbon-footprint---Graeme-Nicoll,-Australia2011-07-28T12:42:40Z

The Sengs decided to replace an old, inefficient electric hot water system used for cleaning milk equipment with a solar system at the same time as a new milk vat was installed in the dairy.
Electricity costs are estimated to rise by more than 60 per cent over the next three years.

The Sengs expect at least 15 years of reliable service from the solar hot water system. They use a total of 119 litres of hot water in the dairy per day, including cleaning the milking machine and vat. The Sengs estimate they will save at least $360 per year on power bills or A$5,400 over a 15 year life of the unit based on 80 per cent solar energy used. This will cover the purchase cost including rebates though excluding GST of A$5,345.

The Downie's farm on five hundred hectares in southern Tasmania. They have recently invested in a new milking shed to improve the economics of milk production.

• As part of this process a three pond effluent system is being installed to allow filtering of the effluent and spreading back on the paddocks. In effect all of the effluent will remain on farm.
• Fences have been reconfigured to minimise walking distances for the cows during the twice day milking. This will help in both maintaining and improving herd health.
• To make their farm more economically sustainable the Downie's are installing four centre-pivot irrigators to use irrigated water as efficiently as possible.
• Tree lines that will act as shelter belts for the cows and add to the biodiversity of their farm will be planted on the perimeters of the reach of the centre-pivot irrigators.
  

Melanie and Grant to reduce both their electricity bill (pumping water) and leaching of fertilizers have installed loggers and aqua flex tapes on their farm to enable more efficient use of irrigated water. By doing so they have created a win-win situation: saving money and benefiting the environment.
The couple have a long-term commitment to dairy farming in a sustainable manner; in practice meaning they will only use irrigated water when required. Refer to the following video:

A very important focus of MaryAnn and her husband's on-farm activities is cattle breeding. Their purpose is to breed better, more economically viable cows. As a result of improving the genetic merit of their herd and more widely in Tasmania the cows can produce milk more efficiently, lowering greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram of milksolids produced. Refer to the following video:

Paul milks 1,200 cows on the family farm. He has made major changes in the last five years by constructing dams and installing a central pivot irrigation system to provide the moisture to grow pasture for the cows during the dry summer months. By doing so Paul has reduced demand for purchased feed that needs to be transported to his farm as well as creating an environment for contented cows. Refer to the following video:

On his farm Rob is moving to direct drilling for cropping and fodder production. Direct drilling will help combat possible erosion of soils and assist in mantaining soil quality for pasture production.

He has also introduced auto steer options for more efficient machinery use when cropping and producing fodder; this will in turn reduce use of chemicals and fuel.

Rob's goal is to reduce his farm's carbon footprint, thereby both saving money from reduced purchases of farm inputs such as chemicals and fuel and at the same time improving the environment. Refer to the following video:

Duncan has made a whole of farm commitment to reducing the carbon footprint and encourage biodiversity.

• He has planted vegetation to act as shelter belts for the cows, provide a refuge for wild life, combat erosion and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• Duncan has also fenced off water ways to both exclude stock and to improve quality.
• He introduced measures to improve energy efficiency for example in the milking shed so as to reduce power bills, to improve effluent management and irrigation efficiency to make the best use of water.
  

Duncan believes that he has a social and legal responsibility to care for the environment. Refer to the following video:

Grant employs a young trainee on his farm. The trainee James has been taught to be environmentally wise, for example collecting and disposing appropriately of silage wrapping and empty containers. Refer to the following video:

http://www.dairy-sustainability-initiative.org/Public/RSS/Biological-approach-to-dairy-farming---Ben-Holloway,-Allansford,-Victoria,-Australia2011-07-26T14:23:55Z

Peter and Bonnie have undertaken extensive work on their farm's effluent system.

• A second effluent pond has been dug to supply a main pipeline and hydrants established across 120 acres to enable spreading out on the fields.
• Drainways and small creeks have been fenced off and up to six hundred trees are planted per annum to provide shelter for the cows and they also give character to the farm.
• The habitat along three kilometres of waterwasy has been re-vegetated with the assistance of a government authority.

Looking after their farm's environment has favourable long-term impacts on soil quality, health of waterways and the whole eco-system. Specifically maintaining soil structure means better quality grass for grazing and happier and healthier cows.

Refer to the following video:

Planting trees along creeks and spreading effluent on paddocks.
Refer to the following video:

Peter installed six solar units on the roof of his milking shed. His farm's energy bill has declined from A$1,200 per month to as low as A$300 to A$400 per month in summer.
Refer to the following video:

Trevor Thomas, dairy farmer in Longwarry, Victoria

• in last five years reduced demand for water and used fertiliser more efficiently;
• grown summer crops for feed rather than rely on purchased (transported) feed; and
• planted seven rows of trees to act as shelter belts for cows.

Goal is to leave farm in a better condition than when I came with less carbon emitted into the atmosphere. Refer to the following video:

The Ellinbank Research Station is carrying out research to reduce methane emissions from alternative sources of cow feed. A number of feeds have been trialled including canola, cottonseed, hominy meal and brewers grains. Research resultes indicate that for every one per cent increase in dietary fat, there is a corresponding 3.5 percent fall in methane emissions.
Refer to the following video:

The Macalister Demonstration Farm installed a heat extraction unit on the milk vat compressor. The waste heat from the refrigeration gases used for cooling milk is captured to heat the hot water. By reducing the heat required for the refrigeration gases this makes the refrigeration unit work more efficiently and cools the milk quicker. The result is lower electricity costs.

Refer to the following video:

‘Green Cleaning’ was a three year collaborative research, development and commercialisation project delivered by Government, industry, commercial companies and private researchers. The project has developed and introduced new energy efficient milking machine cleaning systems that require much less energy, chemicals and water than conventional wash systems. The resultant Green CleaningTM systems use low temperature chemicals, capture the wash solutions for re-use and apply energy efficient design principles. The systems deliver:

• At least a 75% reduction in electricity used for heating water for machine cleaning;
• Around a 60% reduction in the volume of water used for cleaning the milking machine; and
• At least a 20% reduction in chemical use.

Refer to the following video:

http://www.dairy-sustainability-initiative.org/Public/RSS/Cow-methane-measurement---Australia2011-07-26T09:44:38Z

For preserving and contributing to betterment of our environment, and reduce effects of Global Warming, state level apex body of dairy farmers in Gujarat, India – the GCMMF (Amul) discovered a novel idea for giving back to nature. The idea was Tree Plantation by milk producer members of Dairy Cooperatives on every Independence Day of India (15th August).

The idea was put in to practice for the first time in the year 2007. Immaculate planning was done to execute the idea. On the day of plantation, after the flag hoisting ceremony, each milk producer farmer member took an oath to plant a sapling and ensure that it grew into a tree.

The milk producers planted a sapling on their own at their identified locations like their farm, near their home, on farm bunds, etc. The practice has been repeated every year since then with an increasing number of saplings per milk producer.

In last four years, milk producers of Amul have planted more than 23.5 million tree saplings across 21 districts in Gujarat.

EWEN is a collaborative project involving Federal and state government departments in partnership with the dairy industry. The project audits of water and energy use on dairy farms.

Approximately 80 energy audits were conducted on the mid north coast of New South Wales (NSW). Each farmer receives a report outlining how they compare to a group of similar sized dairy farms and an action plan for improving energy and water use efficiency. The audits have been supported by a NSW state government grant that offers up to A$5,000 for eligible on-farm work that has a pay back period of more than two years.

Specifically for the Murphy's the audit recommended a heat recover unit be installed to per-heat water using the hot gasses in the vat compressors; refer to attachment. The change from a pressure type heater to a non-pressure heater allows hot water to be used without cold water being added to the tank. This means that morning and evening hot water washes of the milking shed can be discharged from the heater without the need to reheat for the evening wash.

The benefits are savings of around A$1,000 per year in water heating costs alone. This results in a pay back time of 9.8 years. The pay back period is halved, though, as a result of rebate from the state government of 50 per cent of the total cost of the project. The total cost is $9,872 excluding GST.

In July 2010, Canadian dairy farmers adopted a sustainable development strategy to solidify their commitment to ensure the environmental and economic sustainability of dairy farming in Canada.

While dairy farmers have long served as environmental stewards, this strategy will direct their efforts to further reduce the dairy farming carbon footprint in Canada. As a start, Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) is partnering with government, academic institutions and the private sector to fund research on sustainable practices in dairy, including the launch of a lifecycle analysis of the dairy farm sector.

Dairy farmers’ vision for the strategy is:
“Working within the context of a strong supply management system, Canadian dairy farmers will strive to produce safe, nutritious food in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable way to the benefit of Canadian society."

To optimise the utilisation of raw material is a key aspect in the design of Tetra Pak processing solutions. This is done e.g. by applying accurate control systems for dosing and blending ingredients.

Product waste is minimised through efficient start-up procedures and systems reducing mix-phases when changing production from one product to another.

Moreover, specific features in the production systems recover food products within the process. These include product recovery in pipes at start-ups, stops and at the end of production.
One example is the so-called “white-water recovery” allowing milk components and water to be recovered from a milk-water mix using filtration systems.

MEGMILK SNOW BRAND Co., Ltd is committed to making a contribution to environment, local and global communities, having reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as one of the company's biggest corporate targets.

As a GHG mitigation strategy, the company adopts 'thermal storage' system, which is energy and cost saving as well as environmentally friendly. The system produces and stores heat through an inexpensive night-time electricity service which uses less fossil fuel. With highly efficient turno freezers, it allows preservation of heat in heat storage tanks and meets the demand for cold water production and air-conditioning that reaches a peak during daytime, resulting in more efficient operation of electric machines at a constant speed.

This enables the business to reduce GHG emissions by 350t CO2-e per annum in comparison to a conventional system.

Due to the abolition of the EU milk quota system in 2013, the Irish dairy industry aims to grow by 30% in the next decade. Key to this expansion will be the more efficient use of existing resources and processing capacities. A study involving 15 dairy processing plants representing 94% of milk processing (i.e. 4,416,662 litres; 863,588 tonnes of product), demonstrated that, between 2005 and 2009,

• the sector reduced mean energy use by 20% and water use by 28% (20.7 – 14.9 m3/tonne).
• Average annual savings equated to 3.6 million m3 of natural gas and 200 million litres of water per plant.

Successful initiatives include heat recovery from condensate/evaporate/effluent/pasteuriser water, low energy cleaning/disinfection systems, pipe and tank insulation, economisers, lighting controls, variable speed motor drives, etc. and the implementation of energy management systems. The corresponding mean annual CO2 emission reduction was 11,000 tonnes CO2 per plant.

The study was published in April 2011. It established benchmarks against which future performance can be compared and also highlighted areas of excessive energy use.

Barbiselle s.a.s. is 300-hectare farm breeding horses, 1.000 dairy cattle out of which 480 milking cows. It is a family owned farm employing eleven staff. The farm is located at Persico Dosimo in the Province of Cremona, Lombardy, Italy. Milk from Barbiselle is delivered to a local cooperative dairy and processed into high-quality cheese such as Grana Padano D.O.P. and Provolone Valpadana.
Since December 2010, the farm has been equipped with a photovoltaic (PV) system where solar panels are placed on farm buildings’ roof tops to produce green energy, mainly for the farm’s use and partly sold outside the farm. The technology is increasingly being adopted on dairy farms in the region in order to contribute to meet government green energy targets.
The entire PV system on the Barbiselle farm is set to generate 782 MWh per year. The nominal power of the photovoltaic modules is 680 kilowatts-peak (kWp).
The roof-top solar system entirely covers the farms’ electrical energy consumption of around 300 MWh per year. The additional amount of electricity generated by sun on the farm is being sold to national electrical grid.

• Arla in 2009 launched its first climate neutral product Yoggi Yalla.
• The environmental impact of each step of the production process has been established.
• Emissions are compensated for by tree planting in Mozambique.
• Mozambique farmers are learning forestry management skills and as a result achieving enhanced livelihoods.
  

• There is in the western world a large focus on food products contribution to climate change.
• Milk has a very high nutritional value that contains many nutrients that are difficult to obtain from other sources in a normal diet.
• Arla is supporting a Project ‘Nutrient Density of Dairy Products in relation to Climate Impact’ at the University of Copenhagen.
• A PhD student will investigate the carbon footprint of different diets with and without dairy products. Results are anticipated late 2011 - early 2012.

http://www.dairy-sustainability-initiative.org/Public/RSS/Arla-Foods-work-with-reduction-in-loss-of-milk-–-the-case-of-Gothenburg-Dairy,-Sweden2010-10-23T22:40:23Z

• Arla produces about one thousand different types of packaging.
• The Arla ‘Closer to Nature’ initiative requires Arla to reduce the amount of packaging and those used have minimal environmental impact.
• Arla UK plastic milk bottles are made from less plastic than others. They also contain 15% recycled plastic, since October 2010 resulting in a reduction of 4,500 tonnes of virgin HDPE plastic.
• In Denmark, the fact that consumers are selecting (in a trial) the more environmentally friendly Harmonie milk carton will result in a saving of some 4,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

http://www.dairy-sustainability-initiative.org/Public/RSS/Arla-Foods-work-with-energy-efficiency-–-some-concrete-examples2010-10-23T22:15:00Z

Three major LCA and CF projects have been commissioned in Arla Foods.

1. A PhD student has been employed by Arla Foods to analyse GHG emissions

2. Arla is a partner in the Climate Friendly Milk Production’ project with the aim of reducing emissions at farm level

3. Started a project to develop a more detailed GHG model to calculate carbon footprint at farm level

• Arla’s climate target to reduce GHG emissions by 25% in production, transport and packaging in 2020;
• Every year Arla calculates the total carbon footprint from farm to factory;
• In 2010: a 6.2% reduction was achieved;
• A new project has started to develop a model to calculate the carbon footprint at farm level.
  

• Arla is working to minimise the number of miles travelled and reduce fuel consumption
• Drivers are being trained in energy efficient driving techniques
• At several depots changes have been made to increase the amount of product transported per vehicle. A 9% decrease in diesel consumption from the Veijle Export centre alone has been achieved.
• In the UK, the whole transport fleet is using a biodiesel blend to reduce reliance on non renewable sources. To date this has saved some 1.3 million litres of fossil diesel.
  

Summary:

The world natural resources are becoming so scarce that it is urgently needed to make our society more sustainable. As for the dairy industry, we aim to promote recycling of as much waste as possible and to minimize the environmental load relating to resource collection/extraction and disposal.

• The goal of year 2010: (1) more than 75% of waste recycled, (2) Less than 10,000 tons of final waste disposed.
• To promote minimization of disposing and recycling waste out of food processing, containers and industrial water.
  

Summary:
Boilers are considered as a major contributor of energy consumption at a dairy factory. We aim at switching boilers fueled by heavy oil with those by gas.

Details:
Boilers to be both newly installed and renewed are scheduled to adopt the gas-fueled system when the factories have already been supplied with gas. In the year 2010, two factories will introduce 10 of 2.5 ton-capacity boilers and 7 of 2 ton-capacity boilers.

Summary:
Synchronized with the renewal of Yakult Joa in October 2008, we changed its container design. We have applied polystyrene, a material of the bottle, to the associated cap for the renewed model instead of aluminum which we used previously. This makes the entire container all plastic and is considered environmentally friendly.

Details:
1. Changing the cap material from aluminum to plastic and making the entire set of container all plastic would not require separation upon disposal. Therefore higher recyclability of the container is achieved.
2. The change of the capping material and the associated change in the production line successfully saved the amount of electricity, hence the emission reductions. The CO2 reduction across the entire life cycle chain from packaging raw materials through to final manufacture is calculated to be 15% by the company.

Summary:
1. Reduced use of glass (by 43% from 244 gram to 140 gram per bottle) due to change of design saves energy during manufacturing glass milk bottle and distribution of final product, which should contribute to reduction in GHG (CO2) emission.

2. The adoption of new resin coating technology on the surface of glass milk bottle proved to improve its reusability of from 30 times to 80 to 90 times per bottle.

Summary:

Meiji Dairies Corporation designates part of its own property located in Nemuro City, Hokkaido as 'Nemuro Natural Environment Conservation Area'. The company takes advantage of this conservation activity to give its employees educational programs on the environment.

Details:

Meiji Dairies Corporation designates part of its own property (467 ha) located in Nemuro City, Hokkaido as 'Nemuro Natural Environment Conservation Area' and announced the land would never be used for business development purposes. The company takes advantage of this conservation activity to give its employees educational programs on the environment. Read on...

1. We aim to convert food waste into feedstuff and/or fertilizer, thereby contribute to the eventual increase in self-sufficiency in feed and fertilizer of Japan.

• To convert factory waste of plant and animal origins to liquid feedstuff to be used at pig farms.
• To utilize milk powder waste out of dairy factories to be used for chicken and pig farms.
• To utilize factory waste of cheese products for mixing with feedstuff at pig farms.
  

2. We aim to manufacture a fertilizer containing dried microorganism by the utilization of organic slime, thereby contribute to the eventual increase in overall self-sufficiency in feed and fertilizer of Japan.

• Organic waste slurry derived from dairy factories is so rich in nitrous and phosphorus substances and free from such toxic matters as heavy metals that its application to fertilizer production is considered promising.
• The normal moisture level of dehydrated slime ranging around 85% can be reduced down to 10% by a drier, which falls into the category of 'dried microbes fertilizer' as stipulated by the fertilizer law of Japan. This paves the way into broader applications.
  

Modifying farm management practices to minimise gaseous nitrogen losses, e.g., the use of stand‐off pads or herd homes during wet periods in winter, and storage of carbon in
regenerating shrubland or planted forests are the most promising ways to reduce farm
greenhouse gas emissions at present. Investment in research to develop cost‐effective ways to reduce methane and nitrous oxide emissions is a high priority for the dairy industry.
Improved productive efficiency demonstrably reduces the GHG emissions and overall environmental impact of dairy production

An intelligent cleaning monotoring and control system has been developed using in-line sensors (turbidity, nitrate, calcium) and a computermodel. The system, called OptiCIP+ calculates the optimal cleaning procedure and determines when the equipment is clean again.

The system has been demonstrated on two whey evaporators in two international dairy companies. On average the cleaning time was reduced by 20%.