Highlights
- Canadian dairy farmers are keen on adopting sustainable farming practices.
- Canadian milk’s carbon footprint has decreased by 7% in the past 5 years.
Climate change and the state of our planet is a hot topic on all our minds these days—as it should be. And those making a living from agriculture, including Canadian dairy farmers, are often the first to see the impact of changing weather patterns. Our crops depend on temperature, rainfall, soil conditions, and so on, all of which are affected by environmental shifts. Our livelihoods hinge on bountiful crops and on the well-being of our animals. That’s why we, as farmers, have a vested interest in adopting more sustainable practices. Our future depends on maintaining the land for years to come.
Greener milk: Lowering our environmental impact
Canadian dairy farmers go through great lengths to conserve natural resources and safeguard the land they work on. As most Canadian dairy farms are family-owned, our goal is to pass down the land to future generations—so thinking long term is key!
In order to preserve the land, we take many steps to reduce our environmental impact. One of these centres around improving manure management practices to reduce emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas. Another regular farm practice is crop rotations, which is a system for planting that helps maintain soil health by selecting different crops to grow on the same land year after year. Furthermore, the adoption of precision agricultural technologies helps us improve efficiency and increase our yield while lowering the use of natural resources and energy.
Sustainability by the numbers
The steps we’ve been taking towards a more sustainable future have already begun to show improvements. The production of one litre of Canadian milk emits less than half the greenhouse gas emissions compared to the global average. Moreover, in the past 5 years, we’ve lowered the carbon footprint of a litre of milk by 7%, and we won’t stop there. We’re continuously working to produce Canadian milk with fewer resources.
Our journey towards a greener, more sustainable future for Canadian dairy farms is an ongoing one. Improvements in precision agricultural technologies and research will continue to fuel changes that further reduce our environmental impact.
Our dairy farmers work harmoniously with the land and their herd, all with the goal of providing future generations of Canadians with nutritious, pure Canadian milk.