Dairy Case Study: UCD, Carbery, and CarbonSpace
How CarbonSpace monitoring demonstrated a lower product carbon footprint for milk
About Carbery and Farm Zero C
Farm Zero C is a project led by the BiOrbic research center, Carbery, and other industry collaborators. The collaboration aims to to create a climate-neutral, economically-viable dairy farm.
Carbery Group is a global leader in dairy, nutrition, and flavours, headquartered in Ballineen, West Cork, Ireland. Carbery is a cooperative owned by four Irish dairy co-ops (Bandon, Barryroe, Drinagh, and Lisavaird) that sources milk from 1,200+ family farms.
Challenge
Carbery and University College Dublin (UCD), through Farm Zero C, aimed to perform a comprehensive assessment of the farm's climate impact by estimating emissions and removals for their agronomic interventions and use this data to calculate their carbon footprint for fat and protein corrected milk (CO2e/kg FPCM)
Solution
The project team decided to estimate carbon sequestration on grazing lands using the CarbonSpace platform.
CarbonSpace estimates net ecosystem exchange (NEE), which Carbery used to quantify the carbon sequestered and stored by grasslands used for forage production annually. The NEE value for the monitored area was 130 t CO2 eq in 2018.
Harvest Correction: CarbonSpace deducted carbon content in the harvested organic matter: forage grass. This ensured that only the carbon retained onsite by the farmer's regenerative efforts is credited as a sink.
Farm Zero C is a project led by the BiOrbic research center, Carbery, and other industry collaborators. The collaboration aims to to create a climate-neutral, economically-viable dairy farm.
Carbery Group is a global leader in dairy, nutrition, and flavours, headquartered in Ballineen, West Cork, Ireland. Carbery is a cooperative owned by four Irish dairy co-ops (Bandon, Barryroe, Drinagh, and Lisavaird) that sources milk from 1,200+ family farms.
Challenge
Carbery and University College Dublin (UCD), through Farm Zero C, aimed to perform a comprehensive assessment of the farm's climate impact by estimating emissions and removals for their agronomic interventions and use this data to calculate their carbon footprint for fat and protein corrected milk (CO2e/kg FPCM)
Solution
The project team decided to estimate carbon sequestration on grazing lands using the CarbonSpace platform.
CarbonSpace estimates net ecosystem exchange (NEE), which Carbery used to quantify the carbon sequestered and stored by grasslands used for forage production annually. The NEE value for the monitored area was 130 t CO2 eq in 2018.
Harvest Correction: CarbonSpace deducted carbon content in the harvested organic matter: forage grass. This ensured that only the carbon retained onsite by the farmer's regenerative efforts is credited as a sink.
“Historically, agricultural carbon accounting has focused on emissions while overlooking the benefits of sustainable land management. We believe responsible farmers should be recognized, and that the CarbonSpace tool for measuring net ecosystem exchange will allow us to quantify farm-level carbon sequestration at scale.” — Luis Alejandro Vergara, UCD
Luis Alejandro Vergara
UCD
Visualization of the system and updated footprint
Impact
Carbery reported a 10% reduction in the carbon footprint of milk production as it was accurately able to measure additional carbon sequestered through their grassland management, using CarbonSpace.
Carbery and collaborators measured a carbon footprint of 0.8 kg CO₂ eq/kg FPCM using CarbonSpace—well below the Irish dairy average of 0.94 kg CO₂ eq/kg FPCM.
The lower carbon footprint was achieved by incorporating a holistic view of the farm's grazing lands, using high accuracy data collected by the CarbonSpace system.
Strategic Value
For Brands: Audit-ready, ISO 14064-3 verified data for Scope 3 and SBTi FLAG compliance.
For Farmers: A system that accurately and continuously measures the impact of regenerative practices on carbon sequestration without the need to perform soil sampling every 3 to 5 years. Farmers can understand which regenerative practices are yielding results and which are not.
Carbery reported a 10% reduction in the carbon footprint of milk production as it was accurately able to measure additional carbon sequestered through their grassland management, using CarbonSpace.
Carbery and collaborators measured a carbon footprint of 0.8 kg CO₂ eq/kg FPCM using CarbonSpace—well below the Irish dairy average of 0.94 kg CO₂ eq/kg FPCM.
The lower carbon footprint was achieved by incorporating a holistic view of the farm's grazing lands, using high accuracy data collected by the CarbonSpace system.
Strategic Value
For Brands: Audit-ready, ISO 14064-3 verified data for Scope 3 and SBTi FLAG compliance.
For Farmers: A system that accurately and continuously measures the impact of regenerative practices on carbon sequestration without the need to perform soil sampling every 3 to 5 years. Farmers can understand which regenerative practices are yielding results and which are not.