The vast majority of First Milk farmers have signed up to its regenerative farming programme, with members committing to almost 131,000 field-level regenerative interventions across more than 78,000 hectares of land.
The co-op has announced that more than 90 percent of its producers have signed up to its regenerative farming programme, representing more than 96 percent of its members’ milk.
The farmers have each submitted regenerative plans for their farms using a unique digital mapping tool, and have committed to implement a range of interventions for individual fields or the whole farm in the year ahead.
Each intervention must support one of the five regenerative farming principles – livestock integration, minimise soil disturbance, protect soil surface, encourage plant diversity, maintain living roots.
To date, the data collected shows that producers have committed to 130,873 regenerative interventions across 78,399 hectares of land.
And the majority (82 percent) of all First Milk members’ land will be grazed by livestock during 2022, for an average of seven months.
Farmers have also committed to 12,762 interventions linked to minimising soil disturbance across 49,396 hectares of land. Only 7% of land (5,651 hectares) will be ploughed during 2022.
Meanwhile, 60 percent of all grazing areas will be rotationally grazed during 2022, for an average of 23 days grazed and 20 days rest.
Commenting on the developments, Mark Brooking, First Milk sustainability director said: “The support for our regenerative farming programme has been amazing.
"We are well-placed to achieve our target of sequestering an additional 100,000t CO2e per year by 2025, as well as enhancing biodiversity and improving water and nutrient cycling."
He added: “Together, our members are implementing regenerative practices on a land area greater than the equivalent of Glasgow, Manchester, Cardiff and Bristol combined.
“We look forward to supporting and encouraging members further as we continue our regenerative journey together to show dairy farmers can be part of the climate solution."
