ew Zealand's dairy sector -- including the world's biggest
milk trader, Fonterra -- is expected to reveal next week the
size of its carbon footprint.
The dairy industry will release details from a case study
under the Government's greenhouse gas "footprinting strategy"
next Friday.
The Commissioner for the Environment, Jan Wright, warned in
October 2007 that the dairy sector might have only a narrow
edge on British farmers in terms of the greenhouse gas
emissions in producing and shipping milkpowder.
She said New Zealand could get dairy products onto UK
supermarket shelves with a lower carbon footprint than
comparable product from UK farmers, but "the margin is not
that large".
The ratio of the carbon footprint of 1kg of British
milksolids to the carbon footprint of 1kg of New Zealand
milksolids was about 4:3, she said.
According to Professor Caroline Saunders, director of Lincoln
University's agribusiness and economics research unit, 2007
research showed the UK produced 34 percent more greenhouse
gases per kg of milksolid, and 30 percent more per hectare of
dairy farm.
These figures included methane and nitrous oxide emissions
from the cows, and the British farmers had a higher level of
reliance on concentrated feed and forage.
The previous Labour government last year funded seven carbon
footprinting projects in the dairy, kiwifruit, wine, lamb,
forestry, berry fruit and onion sectors.
Details of the kiwifruit study have already been released,
showing Zespri, the world's biggest kiwifruit exporter, found
that each 1kg of its New Zealand-grown green crop eaten in
Europe generates the equivalent of 1.77kg of carbon dioxide
in greenhouse gases. Gold kiwifruit -- about 20 percent of
exports -- creates a little less.
The Zespri study measuring the "life cycle" of exported New
Zealand kiwifruit showed 41 percent of the greenhouse gas
emissions from supplying European consumers arose from
shipping the fruit 20,765km.
Similar methods are expected to be used to measure dairy
exports, though it is understood Fonterra may prefer
calculations done on a business-to-business basis where its
milkpowder ends up as ingredients in food made by other
manufacturers.
The release of the dairy's carbon footprint -- expected on
May 29 -- will be followed by similar studies of the wine
industry, which had already completed its report, apples, and
lamb in July, and the beef sector will lay out its figures in
August.
Forestry, berryfruit and onions are also expected to come
under scrutiny.
The carbon footprinting exercise has been overseen by the
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) , where the deputy
director general for policy, Paul Stocks, has previously told
industry that with New Zealand's existing reputation as a
clean and green producer, carbon footprinting can leverage
exporters to have a competitive advantage. Alison Watson,
MAF's coordinator for the carbon footprinting strategy told
NZPA global supermarket chains such as Tesco and Wal-Mart are
key drivers of carbon footprinting.
Some supermarkets such as Tescos in Britain, or Carrefours in
France, or Migros in Switzerland wanted carbon footprint
information, while others, such as Marks and Spencer wanted
evidence that suppliers were working on reducing their
emissions, she said.
By being leaders in delivering emissions data, New Zealand
exporters could not only maintaining a competitive advantage
but help frame the way that emissions information was used
overseas.
And detailed knowledge of the emissions generated by their
commodity at each step of the supply chain could help
exporters with a wide range of sustainability issues.
