Germany: Nestlé launches first climate dairy farms

In Germany the Switzerland headquartered global private food company Nestlé launches its first German climate dairy farm. The aim of the pilot project is to reduce the footprint of a farm to zero emissions. Over a period of three years, Nestlé Germany will support a dairy farm of its long-standing supplier the dairy cooperative Hochwald. ‎The family farm with 135 cows and is to become a model for other farmers. The project is led by the University of Applied Sciences Nürtingen-Geislingen (HfWU), with scientific and technical advice from the project partners Thünen Institute of Business Administration and the Lake Constance Foundation.‎ ‎Step by step will be taken around 30 defined measures to reduce greenhouse gases as much as possible. This means, for example: optimal feeding of the cows, gas-tight slurry storage, construction of a biogas plant, energy generation through photovoltaic systems and optimized herd management of the cows, which ensures an increased milk yield. At the same time, more humus is built up through regenerative management of arable and grassland and hedges and trees are planted so that more greenhouse gases can be stored. The „climate dairy farm“ is also reducing its use of pesticides and mineral fertilizers.‎ ‎The aim is to get the emissions of the operation in the pilot project to net zero after three to five years in the model. ‎‎Of course, it takes decades until hedges and trees grow really large and the soil has built up enough humus but in the project they are therefore modelling how much CO2 the plants and soil can really store.‎ ‎Nestlé is committed to halving its global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and becoming a net-zero company along the entire value chain by 2050. Two-thirds of Nestlé’s greenhouse gases are produced in agriculture. Milk is responsible for most of the emissions, according to Nestlé.‎

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