News

The Nature Conservancy and Syngenta join Net Zero efforts

The Nature Conservancy and Syngenta are partnering with the dairy industry on their Net Zero Initiative.

Head of the U.S. Dairy Export Council Krysta Harden says they hope to create a replicable program at a few sites this year as pilots addressing feed and forage production, and feed efficiency, with plans to scale efforts nationwide in the next three years.

“This project is really focused on dairy feed, which is about 26 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions,” she says.  “It’s an area that we really do need to focus on—the sequestration of carbon is very important to the future of helping us get to carbon neutral or better.”

Syngenta CEO Erik Fyrwald says they originally developed Enogen corn for the ethanol industry but discovered when fed to dairy cows, it increases milk production, is more digestible and reduces methane production.  He says that technology along with their agronomic and digital support will improve soil health, resource efficiency and protect wildlife habitats.

“So, not only making the dairy production more efficient, but also on the farm itself—capture carbon in the soil and be more sustainable from the farm all the way to the consumer,” he says.

Lynn Scarlett with The Nature Conservancy says innovations are imperative to increasing food production to meet global demands while making steps to reduce carbon as the dairy sector contributes 22 percent of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions.

All three spoke on collaboration in the dairy industry to address climate impacts as part of this week’s Agri-Pulse Ag and Food Policy Summit.