Every single sector in the UK economy is going to have to address the challenge of climate change with increasing urgency. That’s going to be easier for some than for others – and with an overall contribution of 2% to the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions, the UK dairy sector faces as big a challenge as any.

All the more reason to get on top of it as soon as possible! As this little booklet demonstrates, many dairy farmers and businesses in the UK are already pioneering innovative ways of reducing their overall ‘environmental footprint’ – not just in terms of climate change but other essential issues as well.

Leadership of this kind is fundamental. Milk is a staple of our diets, and people love their dairy products – just try thinking of a world without them! However, it’s impossible to produce milk without emissions of methane from the cows (that’s just the nature of the beast!), so there’s always going to be some kind of trade-off going on here. Hence the urgent need for new research on cows’ diets and other environmental impacts – precisely the kind of investment that Dairy UK needs to be pressing for as strenuously as possible.