DSF Members continue to share successes within the Communities of Interest
DSF Members continue to share successes within the Communities of Interest
The DSF Biodiversity & Nature Community of Interest (COI) recently heard from Ashley Montcalm of Arla Foods. Ashley provided some incredibly valuable lessons on engaging farmers in a biodiversity and soil health survey, highlighting the challenges of implementing nature-positive practices on a large scale and how Arla intend to measure biodiversity on farm. The Community then engaged in discussions led by Dr Belinda Margetts of DairyNZ, facilitator, with the following key take aways:
- Arla's pilot programmes have been key to developing and refining how biodiversity is measured on farms. These pilots make sustainability efforts measurable and meaningful, while providing farmers with recognition and support for their improvements.
- Linking incentives to farm practices with proven benefits for biodiversity and soil health is key. This method validates results, reduces farmers' administrative work, and makes scaling sustainability easier. Incentivising farmers is probably the fastest way to encourage change in practices.
- Local catchment management groups can be valuable partners in verifying the accuracy of data collected through farm surveys. Their involvement helps ensure that information is grounded in local realities and supports the credibility of reported outcomes.
The GHG Emissions COI met in April to hear Hochwald Foods’ Felix Heidenreich and Katharina Weber share insights of their efforts engaging farmers in GHG emissions reduction activities. They outlined the development of the MilchPlus programme, including the more recent addition of the MilchPlus Climate, where farms calculate their carbon footprint (using the Cool Farm Tool) and receive incentives to implement specific GHG emissions reduction measures. 90% of Hochwald Foods milk volume is involved in this voluntary programme. Additional initiatives include:
The findings of these projects are being used to inform and develop the MilchPlus programme.
If you are not currently attending the COI’s, you are missing out! These sessions bring DSF Members together from across the globe to share in detail the challenges they have in specific areas and can identify solutions collectively through focused and targeted sessions. You can catch up on these informative sessions with the recordings in the DSF Members Area, but you can’t beat being at the live sessions!
Next meetings: Animal Care COI on 28 May and GHG Emissions COI on 25 June. Contact the DSF Secretariat for details.