Sustainability in Belgian dairy farming is gaining momentum. About 96% of all Belgian dairy farmers participate voluntarily in the Sustainability Monitor. In addition, an average of twenty extra-statutory sustainability initiatives are applied per dairy farm.
This reports the Belgian trade organization MilkBE. There are also more and more measures to choose from. There are currently 42. The most popular measures include: own energy generation, the installation of a cow brush in the stable, use of alternative water sources and feeding by-products from the food industry. 61% of Belgian dairy farmers choose the latter option. About 60% have installed a cow brush. Just over half of livestock farmers tap alternative water sources and almost 40% produce at least 4.000 kWh per year of sustainable energy via solar panels, micro-digesters or wind turbines.
Widening monitor
The CO2-footprint of raw milk has also fallen by 30% over the past twenty years to approximately 0,93 kg CO2equivalent per kilo of raw milk. In particular, MilkBE wants to further use the Sustainability Monitor to encourage individual dairy farmers and dairy processors to further improve their performance compared to the national average. In the meantime, we are working on a significant expansion and digitalization of the Sustainability Monitor, with more attention to, among other things, methane reduction measures and animal welfare.
Processors contribute
The dairy processors are also doing their part. This means that fuel consumption and emissions of harmful exhaust gases are greatly reduced. Within the milk processing itself, the CO2emissions have been reduced by 30% since 2011. Energy and water consumption have also been successively reduced by 24 and 34% per liter processed. In addition, more and more attention is being paid to water reuse and approximately 35% of the water used comes from alternative sources such as purified wastewater, collection of condensate after powdering milk or rainwater.