Dairy Australia says significant emissions progress being made

Dairy Australia General Manager Sustainability, Helen Dornom, said processors had also reduced the intensity of their emissions by 25.5pc since 2010/11

She said the research coincided with the tenth anniversary of 2010-11 Sustainability Framework, DA's guide to sustainable dairy production, with goals and targets set for 2030.

"In 2010-11, dairy farmers were starting to be asked for their credentials, with regards to sustainability, and at that time it was very much being defined as environmental issues," Ms Dornom said

"We were concerned if that definition languished in the environment space, we would always be in defence mode, having to defend that we farm animals and animals have an impact on the environment.

'That has to be weighed off against the highly nutritious, affordable product that is produced and the contribution the industry makes to rural communities."

DA came up with four goals: a vibrant, profitable industry, providing safe, quality, nutritious products, animal care and reducing environmental impacts.

"It's one thing to have targets, but they are empty if you don't have commitments behind them," she said.

DA was reviewing its goals and targets to see if they were in line with public expectations.

"Are we going hard enough and far enough?," she said.

"It wasn't so much whether we were there yet, it was whether we were accepting we needed to do things and put actions in place," she said.

"We needed to demonstrate what we are doing in this space, not just that we are saying it's important, but actually doing things to address it."

Specific surveys found 94pc of farmers said they were doing something to reduce carbon dioxide emissions - "whether that be using fertilisers more strategically, looking at feed efficiency, not wasting feed, therefore increasing milk production for the amount of feed that goes in".

"All those things add up, in helping people reduce their environmental footprint."

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In Australia, DA was keen to have every farmer understand their carbon footprint.

"We know, in dairy, the greatest greenhouse emissions come from farms," she said.

"It's only small in the scheme of things, only two per cent, but you need to know what makes up your emissions before you can focus on what you can do - what steps you can take.

"Emissions are a loss of energy, which contributes to a loss of production."

Dairy manufacturers were also playing their part, she said.

"They are committed to doing more, in that space," she said.

"Take Burra Foods, Korrumburra, they have invested heavily in solar power, to run their plant, while you have other groups looking at better ways to reduce waste.

"All waste gives off emissions too, so they are not adding to landfill, there is a lot of individual things that many people are doing."

Skeeter Verhey, Koondrook, milks at 350-cow, split calving herd, and said he was interested in ways of capturing carbon.

"I am looking at our existing vegetation and treelines, their age, and what they do for us," he said.

"We are looking at renovating our pastures - coming out of the drought we were renovating pastures a lot and looking at ways around that."

He said he also wanted to identify a grazing system that both acknowledged on-farm productivity and carbon impacts.

"It's in its infancy with us, but we are trying to look at what we need to do, on farm, and how we play our role here and in the overall Australian industry," he said.

"How do we produce food, more energy efficiently, to reduce carbon emissions?"

He said he had a responsibility to manage resources, whether that be soil, water, or natural vegetation.

"We are custodians of the ground, we can't take it with us - we'd like to see it in a better shape, when we leave it," he said.

"We are very mindful of synthetic fertilisers; we have probably gone more to some composted materials and natural fertilisers, we do what we can with some of our own manures."

Mr Verehy said he was also thinking about various pastures and feed grown on farm.

'We are using a lot of real numbers from the Dairy Farm Monitor, 11 years of production, and putting that back into a carbon plan to understand where we sit.

"We just want to find out where we sit on the carbon scale, essentially."