Two pilot studies were established, one in the Netherlands and one in the US, involving 65 farms and over 15,000 cows in order to develop the methodology for the low carbon concept.
The GS methodology confirmed an average reduction of 1,200 metric tonnes (MT) over a six-month period in the Netherlands and a reduction of 500MT by August of 2020 in the US.Additives and low carbon milk
The company has said that Agolin Ruminant, when it is included in dairy and cattle feed at a rate of 1g/head/day for adult animals, has been shown to influence methanogenesis.This is the production of methane in the rumen and thereby reduces methane release to the environment by the animal.
In addition, the trials showed that the product has also shown to improve feed efficiency, which means that the return on milk and meat per kilogram of feed is better.Environmental sustainability
According to the group, this improved utilisation of resources benefits animals, farmers and the environment. Speaking about the project, Beatrice Zweifel, technical director at Agolin said: “We are delighted to be part of this project and to work with Barry Callebaut towards their sustainability goals.The work done through Gold Standard for this project, combined with what we already know through many trials on Agolin Ruminant in dairy and beef animals, allows us to facilitate sustainable production systems, and we look forward to further growing the concept with industry."Oliver von Hagen, director of sustainability global ingredients at Barry Callebaut Group said: "I am very pleased that we have been able to develop a methodology with Agolin to credibly quantify and certify CO2 reductions. "This closes an important gap and provides a great basis for us to scale up this work with our partners."
