The project is testing practical ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions under real farming conditions
More than 50 dairy farms across the UK are putting over 200 emissions-cutting measures into practice as researchers test which approaches work best under real farming conditions.
The work forms part of the UK Dairy Carbon Network (UK-DCN), with farms across Great Britain and Northern Ireland trialling changes in nutrition, breeding, animal health and nutrient management.
Nutrition has emerged as one of the most popular areas of action, with farmers looking at ways to optimise diets, make greater use of home-grown forage and explore feeding strategies that could lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Other measures include improving fertility and youngstock health, using genetics more effectively, refining nutrient planning and making better use of slurry and manure.
Professor Steven Morrison, UK-DCN project director, said farmer engagement had been strong since the project began.
“More than a year into the project, the enthusiasm and commitment shown by farmers has been outstanding,” he said.
“It is encouraging to see these measures being put into practice and generating real results on farms.”
A growing focus of the project is on how different emissions-reduction measures can work together, rather than assessing each intervention in isolation.
Some farms are already combining several approaches, allowing researchers to examine whether multiple measures can deliver greater benefits across the whole business.
The project combines on-farm implementation with scientific measurement and data collection to assess which measures are most effective, where they work best and how they perform in combination.
Professor Morrison said the practical nature of the project was helping to build a stronger evidence base for the dairy sector.
“The strength of this project is that we are seeing these measures being implemented in real-world farming conditions,” he said.
“This gives us the opportunity to build a stronger evidence base around what works, where it works and how different measures can be combined to support further reductions in emissions from the dairy sector.”
The project is also looking at the potential business benefits of cutting emissions, with some measures expected to improve efficiency as well as environmental performance.
“Many of the measures have the potential not only to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also to improve farm efficiency and financial performance,” Professor Morrison said.
He added that this was particularly important as dairy farmers continued to manage pressures including market returns, drought and bluetongue.
Experiences from the participating farms are being shared with the wider industry, with the aim of helping more dairy businesses identify practical changes that could work within their own systems.
The UK-DCN is a three-year Defra-funded project led by the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI), working with research and industry partners.
Its findings are intended to help dairy farmers identify emissions-reduction measures that are practical, measurable and capable of improving both environmental and business performance.