CARBON FOOTPRINT AND THE DAIRY INDUSTRY

There continues to be increased pressure and interest by all segments of society to determine their carbon footprint and examine approaches to reduce it. The carbon footprint is basically the total quantity of greenhouse gases produced and related to various activities. The common unit of expression is the total quantity of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents. The dairy industry is also being asked to continue to decrease its carbon foot print. Bauman and Capper (2010) reported comparisons for the U.S. dairy industry between 1944 and 2007. Milk per cow increased by 443 % while the carbon footprint decreased by 63%. The U.S. dairy industry has made a commitment to decrease the total industry carbon footprint by 25 % by 2020 (Tricarico, 2014). This includes the total industry from growing crops for feed to consumption of milk by consumers. The current total industry carbon foot print is estimated at 17.6 lbs. of total CO2 equivalent emissions per gallon of milk. Table 1 provides a breakdown of how the various sectors of the industry contribute to the total emissions per gallon of milk. Milk production is listed as being 51.5 % of the total emission per gallon while feed production accounts for 20.3%. The other sectors are listed as contributing 3.5 to 7.7% of the total