‘In five years things will be solved’, Jamie Newbold from the Aberystwyth University in the UK said in a discussion during the first day of the IDF Dairy Farming Summit in Edinburgh. ‘Things have to move from the laboratory into practise.’ Theun Vellinga of the Animal Sciences Group of Wageningen University and Research Centrum directly warned on the side effects. An example would be that ploughing grassland for growing crops leads to a loss of gases stocked in the soil.
Methane the most important contributor
Among the greenhouse gases, methane is the most important contributor: nearly 60 percent (followed by nitrogen-oxide and nitrous-oxide 24 percent). A survey in The Netherlands showed that a cow with a milk production of 8,200 kg per lactation (305 days) emits 233 kg of methane itself and 101 kg through the manure. Thus, the focus of the measurements is on methane. Nutrition and manure management are the main directions scientists look at.
'Feed a cow as a pig, not as a ruminant', scientist Theun Vellinga proposed. 'Not feeding grass but instead maize and potatoes is turning things upside down', he admitted, 'but it is a way to reduce the emissions.'
 Theun Vellinga
Bio-digester prospective solution
Manure fermentation in a bio-digester is a perspective solution to come forward producing methane from manure. In China the government provides small farms with a small digester. Dutch farmer Kees Gorter produces energy out of the methane in the cow’s manure. Together with two colleagues he has two profitable digesters, which deliver the energy for the farms and for 1 500 households. The participants at the Summit agreed that fermentation is an option, but they had questions about profitability and legislation. If the digestate (the manure from the digester without the methane) could get recognition from the governments as a fertilizer, it would help. In some countries farmers can’t deliver the bio-energy to the public energy-net.
Replace with high production cows
Reducing the number of young livestock and increasing the milk production per cow were two other solutions Theun Vellinga suggested. ‘In Egypt we have 6 million cows, mostly from a domestic breed. Replace them by 1 million high producing Holstein Friesians and you have solved the problem’, dairy producer Walid El-Sherbiny suggested. He said that small farmers with one or three cows stick to the low producing local breed for cultural reasons. This kind of replacement is possible. It took place in Mexico, Abelardo Martinez, from the Spanish Hoard’s Dairyman said.
Rafik Riad and Walid El-Sherbiny from Egypt
GMO’s are controversial
Genetic modification is a worldwide issue in discussion. ‘GMO-techniques in plant breeding and maybe animal breeding could play a role in reducing emissions’, said Brazilian dairy farmer Roberto Jank. He pleaded for the use of these techniques. It turned out to still be controversial – especially in Europe- though most of the participants did not have any problems with GMO’s.
Consumers and Old MacDonald
The consumer lives in a world of Old MacDonald’s farms, not seeing the modernisation of dairy farming and longing ´for old times and organic produce. Kelly Hamilton, representing the dairy consumers, proclaimed that consumers want milk with a ‘green label’, though price is on the top of their list of decisions. The main question is, how will the consumer decide: saving the planet by going for organics or using biotechnology? The dairy sector and the retailers have to explain the benefits and the risks.
Kelly Hamilton, pilot and dairy consumer representative
On the carbon footprint-issue some retailers already state some information on their products. John Gilliland from Northern Ireland pointed out that a Walkers crisps package had its carbon footprint labeled in a way that was very confusing. So consumers will become aware of the GHG emissions but there has to be an approved and standardised way to label the products, otherwise it will only add to the uncertainty and confusion. They will ask for a low carbon footprint, he predicted.
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