Milk Roadmap released
Published 2 May 2008

Jeff Rooker, junior minister for Defra has today outlined environmental targets for the UK dairy industry over the next 12 years.  The so called Milk Roadmap sets out a series of objectives to be met over the short, medium and long term. Targets specifically aimed at dairy farmers include:

2010

• 30 dairy farms piloting on-farm anaerobic digestion
• 65% dairy farmers actively nutrient planning
• 5-15% reduction in water usage per litre of milk

2015

• 65% of dairy managed farmland entered into environmental stewardship Schemes
• 90% of producers have nutrient management plans in place
• 20-30% of producers trialling new technologies to reduce emissions from cattle

2020

• 20-30% reduction in the GHG balance from dairy farms between 1990 and 2020
• 70% of non-natural waste recycled or recovered as standard practice
• 40% of energy used on dairy farms from renewable sources

Other measures include that by 2020 half of all plastic milk bottles will be recycled into new milk bottles, with almost no waste going to landfill sites – which will help lower energy consumption.