Participants at the IDF World Dairy Summit in Daejeon, South Korea, from 15-19 October 2018 will have the opportunity to listen to Michel Donat from Nestlé who will present the buyer’s perspective on sustainability in a conference on the environment on 17 October focused on Sustainable Dairy from an Economic Perspective.
“Dairy customers want to reduce the risks of buying unsustainably produced dairy products and they expect dairy producers to demonstrate the sustainability level of their products through facts and figures,” explained Mr Donat.
“The aim is to drive continuous improvements in sustainability along the whole value chain, including suppliers, and setting criteria such as key performance indicators which can be monitored to show progress in this area,” he added.
In that same session, Ernesto Reyes will present the work of the Action Network on Livestock for Social Development from the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock. This Action Network has recently published a report titled ‘Dairy Development’s Impact on Poverty Reduction’.
“Dairy development makes a significant contribution to poverty reduction both at household and community levels,” said Mr Reyes. “Dairy value chain studies have shown that milk collection and distribution generated a considerable amount of direct and indirect employment, while employment generation through processing and retail operations depended on the dominant product types, be it milk or dairy products.”
Mr Jaap Petraeus of Friesland Campina will explain the important role of biodiversity in dairy sustainability.
“A high biodiversity level on cropland increases the crop yield, while diversity in species keeps the farming system in balance and reduces external costs,” said Mr Petraeus.
The Dutch dairy cooperative, Friesland Campina, teamed up with the World Wildlife Fund and Rabobank to develop the Biodiversity Monitor to support dairy farmers in measuring and improving biodiversity on their land. The Biodiversity Monitor is in line with the IDF Biodiversity Guideline, the Natural Capital Protocol and FAO LEAP Biodiversity Approach.
Dr Anna Flysjö of Arla Foods, Denmark will present a carbon sequestration project.
“The dairy industry has initiated a project to seek consensus and develop guidelines on how to account for carbon sequestration at farm level. It is critical that the method developed is relevant and science-based; robust, where it is possible to follow improvements over time; and feasible with the potential to integrate into carbon footprint guidelines and assessment tools,” stated Dr Flysjö.
Sustainable farming practices such as wastewater treatment technologies will also be discussed.
Topics presented by the speakers will offer food for thought on challenges and opportunities in dairy sustainability, which IDF Director General Caroline Emond said, will engage a wide spectrum of players in the dairy sector.
“The perspectives are multi-dimensional, from social to economic aspects of sustainability, as well as environmental and nutritional considerations. The gathering of minds from around the world will enrich the debate and hopefully inspire innovative solutions to bolster the dairy sector’s contributions to global food production while preserving biodiversity,” said Ms Emond.
Please click on the link below to download the programme for the IDF World Dairy Summit 2018.
For more details, visit www.idfwds2018.com.
