Arla launches sustainable dairy farming scheme

Dairy co-op Arla has launched a three-year programme to help its 3,000 members boost their green farming credentials.

The Growing Together initiative starts this month with seven events hosted by British Arla farmers to introduce what the scheme will cover.

The programme aims to help farmers become more sustainable and efficient by improving welfare, conserving natural resources, upping biodiversity and better waste management.

Four areas will be covered across 60 workshops: nutrition, breeding, major health issues and benchmarking tools.

See also: Arla targets carbon footprint to raise efficiency

As part of the initiative, Arla producers will be offered a free assessment of their farm’s carbon footprint. They will also be introduced to a mobile phone app to analyse forage quality.

Arla farmer director Johnnie Russell said Arla had an unmatched pool of knowledge to draw from, as it was owned by dairy farmers.

“Growing Together is about unlocking that knowledge and making sure our farmers can share ideas, technologies and best practice with each other, making Arla stronger and more progressive,” he said.

In March, Arla unveiled its sustainable dairy strategy, with the headline target of cutting the carbon footprint/kg of milk by 30% by 2020, compared with 1990 levels.

The co-op held 200 environmental workshops and carried out 900 on-farm carbon assessments in the UK between 2010 and 2013.

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