Critical Environmental Funding Progress Questions Remain
Sustainability has evolved dramatically in recent years, with an old adage persisting that the word has a different meaning to each person asked, depending on the context. More recently, sustainability measures have become an integral part of doing business. U.S. dairy cooperatives and processors have taken varying approaches to reduce dairy’s environmental impacts throughout the value chain. Some cooperatives have emerged as leaders, while other companies rely instead on industry-driven guidance to implement change. Looking ahead, critical questions remain about how to fund progress as environmental goals become increasingly more challenging to achieve in the years and decades ahead.
In 2008, the U.S. dairy sector completed a national life-cycle assessment to tackle sustainability challenges, making the sector a leader in animal agriculture. The assessment found that the US dairy industry was responsible for 2% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, with dairy utilizing about 5% of water and nearly 4% of US farmland.
After this assessment, the dairy value chain began to report progress in reducing its overall impact. The sector used 30% less water and 21% less land to produce the same volume of milk, with the overall carbon footprint of producing milk 19% smaller than ten years prior by 2017, according to the life-cycle assessment.
At the farmgate level, various strategies have emerged to help further reduce environmental impacts. A significant part of a dairy farm’s GHG emissions stems from manure. As a result, methane digesters can be a source of significant emissions reductions, primarily suited toward larger farms. Methane digesters are not new but have expanded from being a source of electricity to being a source of renewable natural gas, displacing diesel fuel. Due in part to state and federal grants and/or incentives, significant investments have spurred several projects in recent years.
Other strategies are emerging as well. Feed additives are a promising technology to reduce enteric emissions, representing a significant share of the total environmental impact from dairy farming. Some promising products have started to be utilized, with other products eagerly awaiting approval for usage in the US. The ultimate potential emissions reduction depends on a product’s overall herd penetration rate coupled with its effectiveness; timely regulatory approval, speedy adoption at the farmgate level, and effectiveness that matches expectations could make feed additives a critical emissions reduction strategy in the coming years. Still, these three variables need to align to make this possible.
Funding will be critical in furthering progress towards sustainability goals, and this funding must persist. Any reductions in grant availability or revenue credits available to farmers investing in expensive projects would put the emissions reduction progress that has been made to date at risk. While funding is necessary in the short term, ultimate success relies on projects becoming economically sustainable in their own right without being reliant on outside funds. A critical turning point will not be reached soon, but will ultimately need to materialize for investments to continue.
