Dairy Improvement Programme - Environmental Projects

In 2021 the Dairy Improvement Programme incorporated a broader environmental remit and is delivering three work pages around decarbonisation whilst producing productive and sustainable agriculture within a diverse natural ecosystem.

Supply of Net Zero Dairy Farm Modelling - Wales

This project will model example Welsh dairy farms and look at how they might need to change in the future to address the needs of climate change and how the other drivers and constraints placed upon them might impact how they go about doing that. The project will model baseline farms, through three scenarios across a period of 30 years (2030, 2040 and 2050) to identify how these farms might adapt to meet the challenges of achieving Net Zero in different scenarios.

By doing this, the industry will gain insight into how the sector will need to adapt in the future.

Rapid Evidence Assessment - Dairy

The aim of this project is to conduct rapid evidence assessments (REAs) of practices that can reduce GHG emissions and/or increase carbon sequestration in the dairy sector. The findings will then be translated into farmer-facing narrative summaries. In addition, the project will also highlight knowledge gaps.

Carbon Audits - Welsh Dairy Farms

This project is undertaking 25 carbon footprint audits to ascertain baseline information regarding dairy farms in Wales. Farms will cover all system types (i.e. All year round, Spring block calving and Autumn block calving) across all areas of Wales. As well as the carbon audit, there will be action plans developed for each farm and in twelve months’ time the audit will be repeated to see if the changes have made a difference.