Frågor och svar från webbinariet
Juha Nousiainen, Valio
- What is the Valio farmers view on our vision and the work they, and we, need to do to achieve this?
Yes, generally the Valio dairy farmers have adopted our climate program very well, although there are having a quite challenging economy in their operations due to rapid costs increase in 2020-2021. We have got a lot of attendees to our carbon farming training sessions and a huge proportion of farms have adopted our CARBO® calculator as a basic tool for their climate handprint work. Many farmers who have calculated the carbon footprint of the milk they produced have been positively surprised by the relatively good results. This is encouraging them to keep up the good work.
- What do you think about the addition of, for example, red algae and the feed to reduce methane emissions?
There are lot of high hopes that with certain algae strains we could significantly mitigate the methane emission in milk production. These hopes are supported by many research reports as well, but mainly from in vitro work. We in Valio also conducted some screening of algae strains some two years back. However, it seems that algae technology might be too expensive and there may be some problems with milk quality. Still, we need to follow the possible progress of algae research. In addition, we are working with another feed technology, which seems to be promising from the economic and efficacy perspective and we hope to get this launched for dairy farms quite soon.
3. Hur ska ni få bönderna att genomföra de olika åtgärderna? How will you get the farmers to implement the different initiatives?
Already in 2018 we have launched a sustainability bonus system to our farms and we will update the system during next year. Also, many of the program handprint measures are not causing additional costs, like carbon farming or better crops, and may even impact positively the farm income in a longer period.
4. Ekonomiska styrmedel? Economical compensation?
Yes, we have the sustainability bonus system in place already and we will update and develop it in the coming years.
5. Betala för återvätning av torvmark? Economical compensation for” re-wetting” of peatlands
This is a topic of very intensive discussion just now. We predict that about 20% of the peatland fields are quite low in productivity and we want to create economic incentives for these fields to be re-wetted or re-forested.
6. Inte acceptera spannmål från organogena jordar som foder?
Some grain is of course produced also in organic production system, but the main feedstock for dairy cows is definitely grass and other forages supplemented with non-edible side streams (like rape seed feeds).
7. Endast använda organogena jordar för långliggande vallar?
Yes, this is one of the main principles in utilizing organic fields and is included in our toolbox.
8. Hur tänker ni jobba med ökad biologisk mångfald framöver i ert bonusprogram? How will you work with biodiversity in the future in the sustainability program?
The biodiversity handprint measures are already included in the updated sustainability bonus system we will launch next year. The renewed bonus system has already been communicated to the Valio farms. We will be actively working in developing new handprint measures for improved biodiversity and update the bonus system accordingly.
Michaela Ramm-Schmidt, Baltic Sea Action Group
1. Räknar ni med att användningen av bekämpningsmedel (mot ogräs) behöver öka mycket om man satsar på regenerativt jordbruk? **
Eftersom de regenerativa odlingsmetoderna har som målsättning att förstärka jordhälsan borde behovet av bekämpningsmedel minska med tiden.
Man kan minska användningen av växtskyddsmedel genom förebyggande och alternativa bekämpningsmetoder. God jordhälsa stärker grödornas uthållighet och resistens mot stressfaktorer. En välmående gröda som växer i ett lagom tätt bestånd är det bästa skyddet mot ogräsväxter, sjukdomar och skadegörare. Grödans goda tillväxt skuggar ogräsen och försämrar deras levnadsvillkor. Bl.a. med hjälp av en mångsidig växtföljd och odling av bottengrödor kan man minska ogräsens mängd betydligt. I onlinekursen Grunderna i regenerativt jordbruk kapitel 8 II finns information om växtskydd inom regenerativt jordbruk. Växtskydd (reaktor.education)
Man kan läsa mera om kursen här: Regenerativt jordbruk
2. Finns det någonstans en beskrivning av alla regenerativa metoder?
Man kan läsa om de regenerativa metoderna i onlinekursen Grunderna i regenerativt jordbruk kapitel 2. Regenerativa gårdar handlar helhetsmässigt (reaktor.education)
Man kan läsa mera om kursen här: Regenerativt jordbruk
