DAIRY CO-OP Arla Foods is to explore regenerative dairy farming practices on six pilot farms in the UK.

At the same time, the cooperative is activating all of its 114 organic Arla farmers in the UK to measure their soil carbon content and register practices that promote biodiversity.

Arla described these moves as two 'tangible, farmer-led steps' to gain more knowledge of how using regenerative farming methods can help dairy farming improve soil biology, carbon capture, water quality and biodiversity.

Read more: Arla cuts September milk price

The co-op is actually establishing a pilot programme across all its dairying territories, created in partnership with regenerative farming experts from FAI farms and other expert organisations. In total, 24 selected pilot farmers across five countries will be trained and coached to implement various regenerative methods, and their learnings, combined with data collection, should help build knowledge of how regenerative methods can be applied to different dairy farming systems and how they impact climate and nature.

Similarly, a regenerative farming commitment is being sought from all of the cooperative’s 916 organic farmers, who are responsible for an annual production of some 1000 million kg of organic milk, the world’s singlle largest organic milk pool.

Starting this year, those farmers will self-assess and register their farm’s biodiversity activities once every year to generate data. In addition to this, they will collect soil samples, which will be analysed by a third party laboratory to establish a baseline for their soil carbon. Furthermore, the organic farmers will guarantee that a number of soil health and biodiversity measures are activated on their farms. They will get access to a lever catalogue including information about how to measure and manage improvements. From 2022, they will also self-assess soil health indicators e.g. testing soil smell, spading ease and earthworm counts.

Read more: Arla Foods amba holds July milk price

“As a farmer-owned dairy cooperative, a number of farmers have been exploring regenerative farming methods for some time, and motivated by their enthusiasm, we decided to take a broader approach to this as a cooperative, spearheaded by the organic farmers and a group of pilot farmers,” said member of Arla’s Board of Directors Janne Hansson, who is also chairman of Arla’s Organic Chairman Council which has led the discussion on how the cooperative can engage in and scale regenerative dairy farming.

Need for definition and data

Regenerative agriculture has been gaining attention from producers, retailers, researchers, and consumers as one of the responses to the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.

While there is a general consensus that improvement of soil health and biodiversity are core elements in regenerative farming, there is no universally agreed definition of the approach. Furthermore, there are very few scientific examples of regenerative methods being implemented on dairy livestock farms in the UK and the rest of Europe that farmers can use as guidance. Arla intends to be part of filling this important data gap, using the experience and knowledge of its farmer owners.

“A central part of why we want to explore regenerative farming is to gain data-driven proof points of using regenerative methods on dairy farms," said head of Agri Commercial Support in Arla, Joanna Lawrence. "While we have full attention on reducing our carbon emissions, the positive impact farmers can create as stewards of the land has not yet been thoroughly scientifically proven and we want to secure more science-based knowledge to enable dairy farmers to take the right action for the future."

To help explore and define the impact of regenerative dairy farming, 24 Arla farmers from the UK, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark have agreed to be pilot farmers for a period of four years. They are a mix of conventional farmers with both grazed and fully housed systems and organic farmers.

Arla’s own farming experts and external experts from UK-based FAI Farms, a research, data and consultancy business within the agri-food sector, will train and coach the 24 pilot farmers to manage their farm regeneratively. The farmers will help gather data and assess various methods to understand what effect they can have on soil health, carbon capture, biodiversity, ecosystem processes, farm profitability, and farmer well-being.

At FAI Farms, Regenerative Agriculture Director Claire Hill is excited to be part of the project and to gain access to data from both the 24 pilot farms and from the soil samples from the 916 organic Arla farms.

“Arla is by far the biggest partner we have on regenerative farming within dairy," said Ms Hill. "Their ambition level is going over and above anything we have seen so far in the industry and there is not a pilot programme out there with this depth. What's really exciting is that we will work with different farmers in different countries each working within a unique farm, and the data we will collect along the way will be so insightful.

"It can significantly increase our knowledge of what regenerative transition looks like, the challenges and benefits which will help us understand how more farmers can get started on their journey,” she said.

By having a mix of dairy systems and countries in the pilot farm network and making the tool, Arla aims to promote the results and learnings to inspire all of the 9400 Arla farmers in the cooperative and share insights across the industry through collaborations.

Actions that all organic Arla farmers will implement in 2021:

On soil health:

• A carbon assessment of the soil to create a baseline for measuring further improvements in the carbon level. The soil samples will be analysed by a third party laboratory for KPIs including: organic matter, organic carbon, total carbon, total nitrogen and Carbon:Nitrogen ratio;

• A minimum of five out of 22 soil health measures must be in place on the farm;

• From 2022: An annual self-assessment of soil health indicators e.g. testing soil smell, spading ease and earthworm counts;

On biodiversity:

• An annual self-assessment of activities in four biodiversity conservation areas;

• A minimum of seven out of 33 biodiversity conservation measures must be in place on the farm.

With the new network of 24 pilot farms across five countries, Arla aims to:

• Provide all pilot farms with training and one to one support from regenerative agriculture industry experts;

• easure, track, and document the impact of regenerative farming practices on pilot farm eosystems;

• Understand and document any behavioural changes of pilot farm members;

• Build the understanding currently lacking in dairy production systems of what it means and looks like to farm regeneratively, learning within the context of a variety of management systems and countries;

• Share knowledge and learnings through roundtable discussions, case studies and project progress reports;

• Combine farmer knowledge with external experts to identify common regenerative FAO’s view on the benefits of soil health and biodiversity.

According to The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, soil organisms and biodiversity could be a nature-based solution to many of the problems that humanity is facing today – including the provision of healthy food and the improvement of agricultural production, water filtration and carbon sequestration. FAO also suggest that it can enhance soil fertility, agricultural production, and environmental sustainability.

Read more about these projects on www.arla.com/sustainability/protecting-nature/regenerative-dairy-farming/