Wednesday, 06 November 2024 07:55

Sustainability dominates dairy summit

Written by  Tim Fulton
Attendees at the IDF Dairy Summit sample French cheeses in Paris last month. Attendees at the IDF Dairy Summit sample French cheeses in Paris last month.

To Kiwi ears, an international conference that talks about a "just and fair transition" to sustainable dairy sounds like a clarion call for better access to valuable markets. 'Just and fair' means more to the world than opening up borders to big exporters like NZ. Tim Fulton reports.

This year's International Dairy Federation (IDF) world summit in Paris covered innovations, best practice and responses to economic, social, geopolitical and climate crises.

The common denominator was 'carbon footprint'. Jean-Michel Javelle, president of French dairy co-operative, Sodiaal, said no agribusiness company or leader could now imagine building their operations or a strategy without "resilient supply chains".

Nor could they fail to address environmental issues: "financial and non-financial now go hand in hand."

Agriculture was intimately linked to ecosystem health and animal welfare, Javelle said.

Farmers felt climate change as much as anyone, seeing changes in growing seasons or damage from extreme weather, which disrupt cows' rumination and milk production.

Since 2019, Sodiaal had been working with farmers to measure the carbon footprint of their operations. The co-op used telemetrics in its trucks to reduce emissions and had launched more than 500 projects to cut emissions at processing sites. The aim was a 20% reduction in emissions by 2030.


Read More


Making change meant modifying herd diets, which represented a significant cost and a potential risk to agricultural yields.

To offset this, Sodiaal had introduced a "transitions platform" raising funds from clients, banks and other partners. "The dual objective is to reduce the environmental footprint while improving working conditions for farmers," Javelle said.

It was clear from IDF that the European Union will continue to 'support' its producers to meet emissions targets. Kiwis call it protectionism. Europeans call it maintaining a vibrant and competitive industry.

Pascal Le Brun, president of French milk producers association, CNIEL, said France was notable for the diversity of its agricultural models. This allowed it to adapt to the specific conditions of each region, from mountainous areas to fertile plains. On average, a French dairy farm had 70 cows and the country was unusual in Europe for relatively small herds over large areas.

Running a "polyculture-livestock model", many French farmers grew multiple crops and animals together at the same time. Le Brun said this model gave farmers greater autonomy in terms of feed, fertiliser and energy - creating good environmental and economic balance. However, French farmers had to be sure it would be effective in the face of climate change, especially water scarcity.

Modernisation of facilities, production and processing tools, particularly through robotization and the use of decision-support tools was essential.

The improvements would not only help address labour shortages but further reduce France's carbon footprint, Le Brun said.

Projections by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisatin and the OECD were for annual dairy consumption to rise by 1.4 to 1.8% over the next decade.

The rise would be sharpest outside of Europe, mainly in Africa and Asia, where rising purchasing power and changing dietary habits were growing demand.

More like this

Featured

Farmers urged not to be complacent about TB

New Zealand's TBfree programme has made great progress in reducing the impact of the disease on livestock herds, but there’s still a long way to go, according to Beef+Lamb NZ.

Editorial: Making wool great again

OPINION: Otago farmer and NZ First MP Mark Patterson is humble about the role that he’s played in mandating government agencies to use wool wherever possible in new and refurbished buildings.

National

Machinery & Products

Farmer-led group buys Novag

While the name and technology remain unchanged and new machines will continue to carry the Novag name, all the assets,…

Buhler name to go

Shareholders at a special meeting have approved a proposed deal that will see Buhler Industries, the publicly traded Versatile and…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Make it 1000%!

OPINION: The appendage swinging contest between the US and China continues, with China hitting back with a new rate of…

Own goal

OPINION: The irony of President Trump’s tariff obsession is that the worst damage may be done to his own people.

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter