The Carbon-Neutral Milk Living Laboratory aims to assist milk producers in improving their carbon balance by measuring the impacts and outcomes of using beneficial management practices that have been co-developed, improved and adapted to the situations of different types of dairy farms.
This project is made possible by $7 million in funding over 5 years (2023-2028) from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada as part of its Agricultural Climate Solutions – Living Labs program.
Background
The carbon footprint per kilogram of milk produced in Canada is one of the lowest in the world, thanks in large part to high productivity per cow.
The industry is continuing its efforts to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by combining efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and capture carbon. Many dairy farms have already begun their transition to carbon neutrality by adopting beneficial management practices.
However, to produce carbon-neutral milk on a large scale, there is still much to learn, especially when it comes to:
- the variables that influence the carbon balance,
- the carbon sequestration potential of soil,
- the technical and economic feasibility of beneficial management practices and the factors that lead to their adoption.
What is a living laboratory?
A living laboratory is an integrated approach to agricultural innovation. It involves farmers, scientists and a network of partners in the joint development, testing and monitoring of beneficial technologies and management practices on commercial farms.
The goal is to enable farmers to work directly with scientists and expert partners in experiments on their farms for the purpose of co-developing and facilitating the adoption of beneficial management practices and technologies in Canada’s farming communities.
Project details
A 5-year continuous innovation process will kick off with a data collection campaign at each of the 20 farms to calculate their carbon balances. The chosen farms are located in the Bas-Saint-Laurent, Estrie, Montérégie and Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean regions. What makes this project so special is that it will study these dairy farms in their entirety – soil, crops, herd, and manure.
The mission is to allow researchers, farmers and other partners to co-develop strategies and practices in line with each farm’s carbon balance improvement goals. The farms will be supported in implementing these practices through training, consulting services or technical assistance.
In collaboration with the farmers, researchers will implement protocols to improve:
- carbon balance measurements,
- models and beneficial management practices in fields, barns and manure management.
A team of researchers will focus exclusively on the human aspect by studying the main factors that facilitate the adoption of practices by producers and communications within the living laboratory.
These innovations will then be tested, evaluated and improved through a series of iterative steps. Regional and provincial activities will be held to encourage the adoption of management practices outside the pilot farms by as many dairy producers as possible.
But in the end, dairy producers will have the final word on the beneficial management practices they want to adopt.