The reductions in emissions on the 20 pasture-based dairy farms over the past five years are an encouragement to any farm that would like to reduce their environmental impact. The most significant improvements have come from increased feed conversion efficiency, a higher proportion of pasture in the diet, and lower N fertiliser application rates.
The main culprit, of nitrous oxide emissions, in agriculture is the excessive use of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers. Fortunately, that is something farmers can do something about.
There are seven farms which have negative net carbon emissions for the duration of this study. That is amazing! It completely changes the narrative of the negative impact of dairy farming.
Agriculture is often pointed at as the source of high greenhouse gas emissions. How can dairy farmers reduce their carbon footprint?
We are borrowing non-renewable resources from past and future generations to support this one. That is the very opposite of sustainable agriculture.
Climate change is a huge challenge facing society, and dairy farms are often pointed at as having a large carbon footprint.
Taking all this into account, methane is a huge problem. But is it? Recent research has challenged whether methane should be treated in the same manner as carbon dioxide when it comes to its impact on climate change.
Did you know that dairy cows can be carbon neutral? Yes, I am talking about greenhouse gas emissions neutral. I know it seems crazy.
The SWAN system is composed of soil, water, atmosphere and nutrient components. The best way to show how these integrated and interrelated measures reflect the journey of improving agricultural sustainability is to show a case study of a farm which has become more sustainable over the past five years.
I think many people have been sceptical of the idea that dairy farms could possibly be carbon neutral, but this data shows that this is actually possible. This is a massive positive impact! The theory is being put into action.