Helping the dairy industry transition to net zero through measuring emissions

The Carbon Accounting for the Dairy Industry research project, one of seven commissioned by NICRE, is working with the UK dairy industry to demonstrate the feasibility of low-cost non-invasive measurements of greenhouse gas emissions.

The overall aim is to constrain the greenhouse emissions associated with dairy farms with emphasis on ensuring the emission measurements have a high level of accuracy that can be used to validate any mitigation recommendations. By testing different methods and evaluating the ensuing datasets, a set of best practice procedures will be established for the dairy industry.

The data collection for the project is currently ongoing at Nafferton Farm in Northumberland. The farm’s milking parlour has been adapted to enable sampling of emissions with no disruption to farm operations and no alteration to cow behaviour. 

Twice-weekly visits to the farm are conducted to collect samples for quantifying greenhouse gas emissions which are subsequently analysed in the laboratory on Newcastle University campus.

The results collected so far reveal the daily and monthly variability in emissions and have identified which cows naturally produce the least and most quantities of methane. The emissions datasets are being correlated with the farm’s database to investigate relationships between methane emission and cow physiology.

The method and datasets will be fully evaluated to provide best practice procedures that will allow repeat independent observations conducted through the UK to deliver comparable datasets. The project will lay the groundwork for the provision of validated greenhouse gas emission measurements and interpretation of the emission data so that it meets any prescribed regulations.