Climate Positive Agriculture
Mole Valley Feed Solutions is committed to helping farmers lower their farm's environmental footprint, whilst boosting performance and protecting margins.
As a business, we're also working hard to hit net zero and plan to continuously measure and eliminate our carbon emissions where possible.
Some of the environmental steps we've taken include:
We have combined the latest data and research to predict the carbon footprint of every compound, blend and straight that’s produced and delivered to the farm gate by Mole Valley Farmers. In fact, we now include this information on the bag label on all of our conventional dairy compounds and blends. We think it’s an important area to focus on considering feed is responsible for around 46% of greenhouse gas emissions from dairy farming.
We’re also on track to incorporate carbon foot-printing data into our Precision Nutrition rationing programme so farmers can understand the environmental impact of their whole diet, including best estimates for homegrown forages. The ability to understand the environmental impact of different individual feeds in kilograms of CO2e/kg means we can provide advice on where to make feed ‘swaps’ to help the environment, whilst maintaining performance targets.
We are now a full member of the Round Table on Responsible Soy Association (RTRS) and Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). This will mean that from October 2021, for every tonne of soy or palm we buy for use in compounds or blends, additional purchased ‘credits’ will be put towards the production of responsibly grown crops.
This will encourage zero deforestation, good agricultural practices and responsible labour conditions. We will absorb all of the additional costs so there will be no impact on the cost per tonne for farmers.
Farmers who would rather not feed soya and palm can choose from our existing range of no soya, no palm products. We are also actively incorporating more home-produced feed products - such as beans and rape - into our compounds and blends to reduce reliance on imported products.
We are also working closely with the food industry to utilise more by-products, such as biscuit meal, which have a lower carbon footprint.
We have incorporated nitrogen and methane output into our Precision Nutrition rationing programme. This will allow us to gather data on the impact of different diets on nitrogen and methane output. Predicting the grams of methane/cow/day and grams of methane/litre that a specific ration is likely to produce will enable us to gather ‘real’ data around cows and the environment. It will also allow us to benchmark so we’re in a better position to help farmers lower methane emissions.
By starting to understand what ‘normal’ looks like for nitrogen excretion, this should help us understand how best to tweak diets to limit nitrogen losses, optimise protein utilisation and protect the environment.
Our Great British Feeds range includes feeds grown in Britain as the main ingredients.
A selection of products are available in bulk or in-store in 25kg bags. Each has been formulated and balanced for specific systems using Mole Valley Farmers’ Precision Nutrition software.
We’re working hard to reduce the carbon footprint of our mills.
This includes producing energy from an anaerobic digester at our Dorchester facility.
Through our seeds, forages and fertiliser business, we are investigating the potential of soil sequestration and how this can be measured through soil carbon audits. We are also calculating the carbon footprint of all of our fertilisers and researching improved application technologies to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
In addition, we’re thinking of forage strategies to help the environment such as better reseeding policies, the use of cover crops and improved forage digestibility.
Calving at the optimum 24 months of age, having good animal health, lower mortality rates and productive animals, helps to reduce carbon footprints.
Through our relationship with Molecare Farm Vets we continue to promote high animal health and welfare and advise on efficient rearing policies. We have also invested in products that boost animal health and reduce antibiotic use.
We can offer farmers guidance on which carbon foot printing tools to use and help interpret results, identify carbon hotspots and reduce a farm’s carbon footprint.
We have a network of nutritionists throughout England, Wales and Scotland. Contact the Feed & Nutritionist Line to find out who your local representative is.