In 2006, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) published its report on the environmental impact of all livestock across the world. Livestock’s Long Shadow estimated that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the industry were 18% of the world’s total emissions.
Earlier this week, the FAO published its review of the GHG emissions for the dairy sector alone. This is a welcome step forward from the Long Shadow report, as its updated methodology begins to look at emissions from the different livestock sectors and from the different regions across the world. The authors used a Life Cycle Assessment method to account for emissions from all the inputs and outputs associated with the dairy sector.
The main points from the report are:
1. The dairy sector contributes 4% of global GHG emissions1
In 2007, the dairy sector across the world emitted 1,969Mt CO2e2 of which
• 1,328Mt are attributed to milk (553Mt milk produced globally)
• 151Mt to meat from culled animals (10Mt meat)
• 490Mt to meat from fattened calves (24Mt meat)3
2. Emissions from Western European dairy products are amongst the lowest
• Global production, processing and transportation of milk and milk products alone are estimated at 2.7%.
• Average global emissions per kg of milk are estimated to be 2.4kg CO2e. In Western Europe the average is about 1.5kg CO2e.
3. Greater production efficiency equals lower emissions
• There are clear regional differences with emissions associated with products from developing countries up to 7 times greater than from developed countries. Western Europe only produces a third of the sector’s emissions even though it is the largest producer of milk.
• In terms of farming systems, emissions from milk produced from grazing systems are about 1.5 times higher than from mixed systems.4
• The digestibility of feeds impacts on GHG emissions per kg of product; however in practice, the quality of the feed, milk production and growth are interlinked. Therefore, if milk production is assumed to increase by 10% in parallel to increased digestibility, the GHG emissions are reduced by 19.2% in extensive systems and by 15.4% in intensive systems.
4. Production is the source of most emissions
• Emissions up to the farm gate make up about 93% of the total; in developed countries, the contribution from production ranges between 78-83%.
5. Methane is the biggest contributor
• CH4 makes up 52% of emissions
• N2O emissions range from 27%-38%
• CO2 makes the smallest contribution and is only 10% of emissions from developing countries and 21% from developed countries
5. GHG impact of soybean production
• The use of soybean in feedstuffs in Europe is estimated to account for 94% of the emissions from land use change.5
6. Trends and mitigation options
Whilst there is uncertainty associated with the calculations, results are on a par with other estimates. The report confirms the trend for lower emissions per unit of product from intensive compared to extensive systems - mainly due to the digestibility of animal feed and the higher levels of milk production.
The report highlights effective ways to reduce emissions by targeting CH4 and N2O. These include anaerobic digestion, improving feed digestibility especially in developing countries and changing manure management to try and reduce N2O emissions. It also notes that the combined production of milk and meat is particularly efficient in achieving low GHG emissions per unit of product as milk is a ‘non-extractive’ product i.e. it is harvested without any reduction of the productive biomass (stock).
NFU view
The Environmental Plan for Dairy Farming and the Milk Roadmap have already begun to address concerns over climate change and GHG emissions from the sector here in Britain, so the mitigation measures within the report are already on our radar. However this is a global problem which needs a global solution. Such a solution might involve British farmers sharing their expertise and knowledge of efficient production with countries in Africa and Asia. As this would be likely to result in a reduction in emissions across the world, the NFU has argued, through its membership of IFAP that British farmers should be recognised and carbon credited for their role in this emission reduction.
Hayley Campbell Gibbons, NFU chief dairy adviser, said “I’m extremely pleased that the FAO has finally published a report which draws a line in the sand under the generic emission figures which have dogged the livestock industry for so long. The dairy report is an important step forward in providing more detailed and sophisticated information on regional differences in emissions and between different sectors. In doing so the FAO recognises that some countries are performing better than others when it comes to assessing the environmental impact of meat and milk production and that British dairy farmers are already working hard to improve their environmental hoof print”.
“We have always known that British dairy farmers are ideally suited through our climate, geography and knowledge to produce dairy products in the most efficient and environmentally sustainable way. With meat and milk consumption predicted to double from 2000 by 2050 this report proves that increasing dairy and meat production in those parts of the world, like the UK, where we are able to produce food with a lower environmental impact makes sense”.
Footnotes
1 This includes emissions associated with milk production, processing and transportation, as well as the emissions from meat production from dairy-related culled and fattened animals
2 Million tonnes CO2 equivalent
3 This means that the global dairy herd is 57% of the total cattle meat production in the world
4 Grassland-based livestock systems are systems in which more than 10% of the dry matter fed to animals is farm produced and in which annual average stocking rates are less than ten LU/ha. Mixed farming systems are those systems in which more than 10% of the dry matter fed to livestock comes from crop by-products and/or stubble or more than 10% of the value of production comes from non-livestock farming activities
5 Almost all of the soya for British dairy farms is supplied through the UK’s Feed Materials Assurance Scheme, which certifies responsible sourcing. In addition, the international Round Table on responsible Soya Association aims to promote responsible soy production. Alongside these initiatives, the British dairy industry is looking to develop better yielding varieties of protein crops that can be grown in Britain, as an alternative to importing soya.