When farmers succeed in improving biodiversity and soil health on their farms one of the benefits is that the plants and soil will capture more carbon. This is called carbon sequestration and can potentially be recognised as a positive handprint that ultimately reduces the farmers’ carbon footprint per kilo of milk.
Dairy farmers often have a lot of grasslands for growing animal feed and grazing that – if managed well – can increase carbon sequestration to capture CO2 in stable, solid forms in the soil. This is called carbon sequestration and can potentially be recognised as a positive handprint that ultimately reduces the farmers’ carbon footprint per kilo of milk.
However, it is one of the effects of dairy farming that is not fully scientifically understood and there is currently no consensus on how to account for this. In an attempt to change that, Arla is part of a collaboration called C-sequ, which is led by experts from Quantis and includes Danone, DMI, FrieslandCampina, Fonterra, Mars, McDonalds and Nestle among others to develop internationally recognised and globally adopted carbon sequestration calculation guidelines for the dairy sector.
As part of Arla’s organic farmers’ focus on soil health, they test their soil’s carbon level every five years. This is partly to understand how much carbon is stored in the ground, which is an indicator of soil health, but also to uncover the potential for farmers to review their soil and biodiversity management practices to increase carbon sequestration.