Including peatland pastures will at least double climate gas emissions from Dairy Farms
Drained peatlands are a blind spot when calculating emissions from milk production. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), assessing the “cradle-to-gate” emissions from milk production, guides both policy and farm-level decisions. When peatlands are turned into pastures, the emissions are commonly not included in the carbon footprint from milk produced on such areas. Peat soils account for […]
Evaluating Climate-Smart Practices on Kenyan Dairy Farms
Aim to enhance milk productivity and reduce GHG emissions. Researchers have assessed the cost-benefit and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions of climate-smart management interventions on 666 dairy farms in Kenya. These interventions aim to enhance milk productivity while simultaneously reducing GHG emissions. The project builds on previous research conducted on small dairy farms in Costa […]
First use of a drone to measure ruminant methane emissions in Africa
Drone measurements at ILRIs Kapiti farm in Kenya. The tests are part of a bigger effort under CircAgric-GHG, that is collecting data and testing the methodology for ruminant methane emission measurements across three different climates and environments: Germany, Kenya and Norway. Accorcing to a blog post from ILRIs communication department, this is the first use of a […]
Measures to lower carbon footprint from dairy farms
Researchers have assessed the carbon footprints of dairy farms in 5 European countries. Farm management practices explained up to 79% of the variation in carbon footprints, which implies potential for lowering emissions. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was used to calculate the environmental impacts of milk production on 71 farms in Ireland, England, Spain, France […]
Cows eating left-overs from bakery products may produce more sustainable milk
Bakery by-products as feed ingredient for lactating cows increases milk production and may lower global warming potential. An Italian case study shows promising results for adding bakery by-products as a feed ingredient to lactating cows’ diet. Italy has a high dependency on cereal import from no EU countries. It is challenging the sustainability of […]
Measurements of methane and CO2 from the barn at NIBIO Tjøtta
Researchers use drones with advanced measurement equipment to estimate greenhouse gas emissions from the ground. In August 2023, Norbert Pirk and Alouette van Hove from the University of Oslo(UiO) visited NIBIO Tjøtta. They used drones that measure methane and CO2 respectively at a height of about 20 metres above the barn, which houses between 60-70 […]