ONE PLANET. ONE HEALTH

Building a sustainable future for dairy farming

27/01/2022

Danone and its partner Royal FrieslandCampina are working to implement sustainable farming practices and to roll out concrete carbon reductions projects together with farmers in the Netherlands.

Cow grazing grass in a field

REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE AS A SOLUTION TO REDUCE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS 

Reducing the environmental impact of farming is key to fighting climate change and building the sustainable food systems of tomorrow.

The conventional farming model has shown its limits. That’s why we are working hand-in-hand with partners and farmers to support farmers in their transition towards regenerative agriculture practices that, improve soil health, help sequester more carbon in the soil, and have a positive impact on biodiversity.

GHG EMISSIONS REDUCED BY MORE THAN 17% 

The 3-year partnership has supported around 600 Royal FrieslandCampina Dutch farmers in their day-to-day transition to more sustainable dairy farming models.

We have focused our actions on two main areas:

  • Support the implementation of regenerative agriculture practices, by using local and deforestation free protein sources for feed, implementing pasture feeding, tweaking cows’ diets to lower enteric methane emissions, and by optimizing nutrient and manure management.
  • Help the transition to green energy sourcing, by using green electricity combined with implementing energy saving measures, such as recovering heat from milk cooling to slightly reduce the carbon footprint.

Farmers were able to continuously track their progress thanks to the Annual Nutrient Cycling Assessment tools, and therefore better manage their carbon footprint.

We have already achieved a 17.6% reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from dairy ingredients Royal FrieslandCampina delivers to Danone. Due to the project’ success, we will extend the partnership for an additional 3 years, with the objective to reach around 25% greenhouse gas emissions  reduction over the course of the multi-year collaboration and to continue scaling up regenerative agriculture practices.

Farmers cannot make the change alone. By empowering a new generation of farmers with innovative tools, nature-based solutions and more sustainable practices, dairy sector actors can help reduce farm’s GHG emissions.

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