DENMARK AS TESTBED FOR GREEN FARMING SOLUTIONS OF TOMORROW

The Danish multinational dairy cooperative, Arla, is taking extensive steps to develop the farming solutions of tomorrow.

The Danish multinational dairy cooperative, Arla, is pushing the boundaries of dairy farming by taking extensive steps to develop the farming solutions of tomorrow with 24 new pilot farms. The pilot farms will implement various generative methods and their learnings, combined with data collection, will build knowledge of how regenerative methods can be applied to different dairy farming systems across Europe. This way, Denmark serves as a testbed for exploring the green farming solutions of tomorrow and helping to improve farming and its impact on both nature and climate. ARLA IS TAKING THE LEAD TO EXPLORE SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS IN DAIRY FARMING The pilot programmes are established to explore the potential of regenerative dairy farming and are created in partnership with experts from FAI farms and other expert organizations. The 24 selected farms from five countries will be trained to implement various regenerative methods and to gather data on the effect of various regenerative practices on soil health, carbon capture, biodiversity, ecosystem processes, farm profitability, and farmer well-being. With the new pilot programmes, Arla will promote the results and learnings to inspire the farming industry across the globe to implement new sustainable solutions in dairy farming. The second data-driven initiative is a commitment from Arla’s 916 organic farms to measure their soil carbon content and register practices promoting biodiversity. The data will play a key role in guiding dairy farmers to take the right actions for the future. "Arla is by far the biggest partner we have on regenerative farming within dairy. Their ambition level is going over and above anything we have seen so far in the industry and there is not a pilot programme out there with this depth. What's really exciting is that we will work with different farmers in different countries each working within a unique farm, and the data we will collect along the way will be so insightful. It can significantly increase our knowledge of what regenerative transition looks like, the challenges and benefits which will help us understand how more farmers can get started on their journey" Clare Hill Regenerative Agriculture Director Claire Hill, Fai Farms VALUABLE INDUSTRY COLLABORATIONS TO DEVELOP IMPACTFUL REGENERATIVE PRACTICES IN DAIRY FARMING The long-standing tradition for public-private partnerships in Denmark is an important driver for innovation and development in sustainable dairy farming. Arla acknowledges the necessity of crosscutting industry collaborations to inspire farmers and farming companies to implement regenerative practices in their farming operations and here by push the development of sustainable dairy farming even further. Amongst other things, Arla is engaged in the following industry collaborations where research and governmental efforts meet commercial operations. OP2B is an international cross-sectorial, action-oriented business coalition on biodiversity with a specific focus on agriculture. The coalition is determined to drive transformational systemic change and catalyse action to protect and restore cultivated and natural biodiversity within the value chains. C-SEQU is a collaborative project with other dairy and livestock organizations that aim to develop an internationally recognized and globally adopted carbon sequestration calculation method to be used in carbon footprint assessments at farm level. BIOCHAR is a consortium of Arla and seven other organizations that will test the feasibility of storing carbon in farm soil and by this remove significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere, whilst also supporting good soil health. Read more on the Arla initiatives here. |Source: Online/KSU