IDM ¦ Sustainability
Dairy and carbon farming
A win-win-win situation!
Author: Alberto Babolin, EDA
Carbon farming is currently the hot topic in the political
agenda of EU agriculture. The term refers to the agricultural
practices enhancing the sequestration of atmospheric
carbon and its storage in the soil.
Together with industrial and technological solutions to lower
carbon emissions, carbon sequestration by European land will contribute
to the achievement of the EU climate goals.
"While carbon stockage in trees and forests are often top of
mind, the by far largest stockage capacity is in the sea and in the
soil and hence in agriculture and farming – the farmers are true
climate soldiers," highlighted French agricultural minister Julien
Denormandie
Last December, the European Commission presented its plans
to scale up carbon farming to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. A
regulatory framework for the certification of carbon removals will
be implemented to achieve the objective.
The idea is to introduce a new business model in which farmers
as land managers are rewarded for the climate friendly practices
they implement, enhancing the carbon sequestration potential of
European land and contributing to the EU climate neutrality target.
During an informal meeting organised by the French presidency
of the EU Council in February, the 27 national EU agriculture ministers
and EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski
gathered in France to share their experience of climate-friendly
farming and visit a concrete example of a low-carbon dairy farm.
Located in Haut-Rhin region in France, the GAEC Losser farm
has invested in modern stables for the 160 cows that give 1.8 million
litres of milk per year, around 11 000 litres/cow/year. The milk
is collected by Alsace Lait, an independent dairy cooperative of
200 producers in the eastern part of France.
"Our farm is part of the "France Carbone Agri initiative", the
French project aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and
14 · March/April 2022 ¦ international-dairy.com
increasing the carbon sequestration of farming activities, and uses
France’s voluntary labelling system for low-carbon agriculture,"
explained Alexis Losser, one of the owners of the farm, to the
agricultural ministers.
A broader framework
This system is part of a broader framework launched by the French
government in 2019 to encourage and finance emissions reduction
projects in all sectors of the economy and has allowed to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions on farms by around 20%. This means
avoiding the production of between 350 and 500 tonnes of CO2
equivalent on farms over a five-year period. A multi criteria assessment
tool is used to quantify the carbon balance and identify
areas of improvement, allowing farmers to implement low carbon
practices and avoid emissions, as well as increase the sequestration
of atmospheric carbon. Such initiative provides the possibility
to farmers to engage for lowering emission on-farm as part of a
voluntary market-based compensation system.
On the margins of the informal Council meeting, French Minister
Julien Denormandie said that the aim is to create a political momentum
for highlighting and accelerating soil carbon sequestration.
The objective is to establish a EU framework for issuing carbon
credits to reward the farmers for the carbon stockage of their soils
and for the measures they take to improve the carbon sink qualities
of their land.
"While setting the right incentives, our carbon credits must be
competitively priced – especially compared to carbon certificates in
other parts of the world," said Minister Denormandie.
A Commissioner’s view
EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski welcomed
this joint approach on low-carbon agriculture: "There is a strong
alignment on the basic principle within the European Union, we
now have to flesh out the details in a legislative proposal – and
we’re committed to to publish our proposal on the certification of
carbon removals by end 2022."
/international-dairy.com
