Livestock farming casts a long shadow when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), Dr Pierre Gerber from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation told delegates at the World Dairy Summit in Edinburgh, Scotland.
He said that ranged from the release of the three gases (carbon dioxide (CO2); methane (CH4); and nitrous oxide (N2O)) through indirect activity such as manufacture and use of fertilisers on pasture, soil cultivation and fossil fuel consumption on farm and in transport, to the more direct production and release of methane by ruminating animals.
Together these accounted for an estimated 7.1 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent or 18pc of total GHG emissions, about two thirds of which came from extensive production systems, with the remainder from more intensive systems.
The question now for regulators in the post Kyoto environment was how to reduce or mitigate that situation.
Researchers across the world are developing programs aimed at specific issues of greatest concern in their own countries, but, as with the proposed legislation, those areas of concern and hence the research focus vary between countries.
One of the problems for pasture-based dairy systems in Australia and New Zealand is the concentration of that research in the northern hemisphere with their mostly intensive dairy systems.
Some of that work outlined at the conference showed GHG emissions are lower for intensive dairy systems due to higher milk yield per animal, and to more efficient rumen function that produces less methane in fully-fed cows.
The incentive for farmers in these markets then, will be to optimise their systems through feeding regimes that Dutch researcher, Theun Vellinga, noted could even allow them to ‘feed their cows like pigs’ bypassing the rumen with protected starch and protein products.
What was also clear, however, was the tight margins that farmers already operate under in some of these markets with some noting they needed ‘something extra’ in addition to their dairy operations in order to survive.
For Dutch farmer, Kees Gorter, that was a manure digester used to produce gas which in turn runs a generator feeding electricity into the local grid.
But Mr Gorter said that required much more than the manure from his own farm and so he now also converted the waste from a nearby vegetable processing plant.
Professor Maggie Gill who is the Scottish Government's chief scientific advisor for agriculture and the environment noted the complex requirements for data such as life cycle carbon footprints that were translated into kilograms of carbon for each kilogram of milk.
She said the urgent need was for data that provided meaningful comparisons between sectors, to paint the ‘big picture’ so that, for instance, unintended consequences of intended legislation could be seen.
She said groups of policy makers, scientists and practitioners along the food chain, needed to identify and prioritise the key questions, providing the lead for the research and analysis phase by scientists, with the next phase where those findings could be challenged by the original groups.
* Peter J Austin travelled to the conference courtesy of global dairy equipment manufacturer, deLaval.