A 10,000-cow methane-reducing pilot has been launched in Denmark, Sweden and Germany by Arla Foods and Royal DSM to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from dairy cows by 30%.

The joint initiative aims to provide sustainable solutions to climate change and create a solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by trialling over 10,000 dairy cows with the new feed additive Bovaer@ across more than 50 farms.

In a statment, Arla Foods said that research and on-farm trials show that Bovaer@ can reduce methane emissions by around 30% with continued high animal welfare, supporting the companies' commitment to sustainable dairy production.

The results from our initial trials with Bovaer@ at both a research facility and one of our Danish farms are very promising

Executive vice president and head of agriculture and sustainability at Arla Foods, Hanne SØndergaard, said: "Climate change requires urgent action, and we believe that dairy is part of the solution.

"The results from our initial trials with Bovaer@ at both a research facility and one of our Danish farms are very promising.

"Together with DSM, we are now gaining practical on-farm experience by applying the feed additive in one of its largest pilot programs to-date, and one of Arla's biggest climate projects overall, with 10,000 cows."

Mark van Nieuwland, vice president of Bovaer@ at DSM, said that leaders of "more than 100 countries" recogise the urgency of cutting methane emissions as they pledged to make a difference at the UN Climate Change Conference, COP26, a few months ago.

"The recent IPCC report on the impact of climate change tells us there's no time to lose when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"Transforming livestock farming will be key to this and forward-thinking companies like Arla Foods are already working hard on sustainable dairy. Through our scientific innovation and collaboration, we can help achieve a sizeable reduction in emissions by changing the feed that animals eat every day and in doing so, support the health of animals, people and planet," he added.

The companies

Arla Foods is an international dairy company owned by more than 8,900 farmers from Denmark, Sweden, the UK, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

Royal DSM is a global company specialising in health, nutrition and bioscience in an effort to improve the health of people, animals and the planet.