Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Arla reveals average carbon footprint of its dairy farmer suppliers

More than 8,000 Arla suppliers took part in the company's climate checks initiative.
More than 8,000 Arla suppliers took part in the company's climate checks initiative.

Dairy giant Arla has revealed the average carbon footprint of its suppliers’ farms and a five-point plan to help farmers reach carbon net-zero by 2050.

The European dairy farmers’ co-operative, which produces brands including Lurpak, Anchor and Cravendale, carried out climate checks on 8,131 of its members’ farms across seven European countries, including the UK, in 2020.

Farmers were asked to submit data in response to 203 questions covering a range of topics including the number of animals on the farm, feed composition, the use of fertiliser, and the use of electricity, fuel and renewable energy.

The findings, which were validated by external assessors, show the average Arla farmer produced 1.15kg of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) per kg of milk produced – this compares to a global average of 2.5kg of CO2e per kg of milk, as stated by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Arla chairman, Jan Toft Norgaard, welcomed the results of the climate checks and said they had helped identify five ways the co-op’s farmer suppliers can lower the carbon footprint of dairy.

These are: better feed efficiency to improve milk yield; precision feeding to reduce surplus protein in feed rations; a healthy and long life for the cow to improve milk yield; precise fertiliser management to reduce nitrogen surplus from feed production; and better land use management to ensure better crop yields.

“The data shows that all types of farms can achieve tangible results if precision farming is increased in these five areas,” said Mr Norgaard.

“This will help us significantly going forward both to lower our CO2e footprint and for future investments on farms to help meet our ambitious climate goals.”

Arla hopes to become carbon net-zero by 2050.

Arla has set a target of reducing its CO2e emissions by 30% between 2015 and 2030 and to become net-zero by 2050.

Mr Norgaard said the initial results from the climate checks would act as a baseline for its dairy farmer suppliers.

“For us, the number is not a final result but a baseline from where we need to improve,” added Mr Norgaard.

“The climate checks is a tool to guide our next steps, to accumulate more insight and transparently measure our progress going forward.”

Arla’s director of agriculture in the UK, Alice Swift, said the findings would help improve the common understanding of what works to reduce the carbon footprint of farms.

She said: “It is a myth that farms of a certain system, type, size, breed or location are in amore favourable position to lower their footprint than other farmers with different conditions.

“Lowering your footprint is all about finding the right balance between the resources that go in and the value that comes out. The data shows that all types of farms can achieve tangible results if precision farming is increased in the five areas we have identified and it will often benefit both the climate and the farm’s longer term profitability.”