Charlie Elrod, Ph.D.
NEAFA VP
For those of you that were there, this year’s CNC had a distinct emphasis and multiple points of view on the ways that agriculture, and the dairy industry in particular, can contribute to mitigating the effects of carbon emissions on our climate. For me, one highlight was the Wednesday afternoon panel of PRO-Dairy, Nutrient Management Spear Program and Department of Animal Science experts discussing this topic. Context for the panel was set by Karl Czymmek, PRO-Dairy’s Dairy Climate Leadership Specialist (a position which NEAFA advocated strenuously for during last year’s NYS budget negotiations). While many in the dairy industry object to the focus on cattle as major contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, Karl very persuasively demonstrated that indeed, while we are a small part of total emissions, our industry has an outsized influence on methane and nitrous oxide emissions, two of the most potent of GHG. Consequently, we all have to do our part to contribute to the global reductions in GHG.
The panel consisted of PRO-Dairy Specialists Kirsten Workman and Lauren Ray, agronomist and engineer, respectively; Olivia Godber, an environmental modeler from the CNM Spear Program and Mike Van Amburgh, who needs no introduction to this audience. The overlapping expertise of the panel, covering cropping, manure and nutrition influences on the dairy industry’s GHG emissions presented a very integrated overview of the challenges to, and also the successes of, the Northeast dairy industry. I hope our membership appreciates that we are blessed with a very cohesive, collaborative and progressive collection of dairy farmers, researchers, regulators, and service and product providers in what we know as the Northeast dairy industry. Because of that, we are national leaders in the adoption and validation of best practices to aid in reducing GHG emissions. On a regional level, our dairy industry has among the lowest carbon intensity per unit of milk produced of any region in the country.
However, the expert panel was adamant that there was much more progress to be made. On the engineering front, designing and building manure storage which prevented dilution of manure nutrients with rainwater while also reducing the volatilization of (especially nitrogen) from storage structures is a major emphasis. Validating methods, e.g lasers and gas sensors, to measure gaseous emissions from manure storage is another high priority. Only through accurate measurement can we document the improvements made over years. Evaluating cropping practices, cover crops, tillage practices and manure application on the agronomic side are crucial for reducing nitrous oxide releases from soil. And while much attention has been paid to reducing cow methane emissions through feed additives, increasing the nitrogen efficiency of our diets should also be a major focus. There is still a lot of work to be done.
For me, the bottom line was that the agronomists, nutritionists, ag engineers and lenders who serve our dairies must get better at integrating their efforts, sharing their knowledge and expertise to bring an integrated solution to each farm, which in the aggregate, can result in the GHG reductions that we all strive for to reach our goal of having a net zero dairy industry in the near future.
