{"id":24799,"date":"2021-06-10T06:05:50","date_gmt":"2021-06-10T06:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rbsitsoftwaresolution.com\/blog\/a-new-climate-calculator-for-livestock-aims-to-help-ranchers-reduce-emissions.html"},"modified":"2021-06-10T06:05:50","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T06:05:50","slug":"a-new-climate-calculator-for-livestock-aims-to-help-ranchers-reduce-emissions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/a-new-climate-calculator-for-livestock-aims-to-help-ranchers-reduce-emissions.html","title":{"rendered":"A new climate calculator for livestock aims to help ranchers reduce emissions"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to sustainable livestock production and agriculture, measurement is the first \u2014 and sometimes most elusive \u2014 step in the process of turning our food system from a carbon emitter into a carbon sink. <\/span><\/p>\n

So DSM<\/a>, a science-based company that focuses on agriculture and other parts of our food systems, and Blonk<\/a>, a data analytics for sustainability consultancy, developed <\/span>Sustell<\/span><\/a>, a combination software and practical service for ranchers to understand and improve the sustainability of their operations.<\/span><\/p>\n

While sustainable and regenerative agriculture doesn\u2019t have a universally agreed-upon definition, it usually involves changing land management practices to sequester more carbon in the soil, using more environmentally friendly animal feeds and reducing fossil fuel usage of tractors and other farm equipment among many other changes. The goal is to reduce the 7.1 gigatonnes of CO2 released into the atmosphere, about <\/span>14.5%<\/span><\/a> of all greenhouse gas emissions, created by the livestock industry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this tremendous need for accurate footprinting of animal production down to the individual farm level,\u201d said David Nickell, vice president of sustainability and business solutions at DSM. \u201cAnd each farm, of course, is very different. And you have to have a system which is able to use actual farm data, and to get an accurate picture of that particular farm.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The system analyzes the environmental impact of a farm\u2019s activity on 19 different categories, including climate change, resource use, water scarcity, runoff and ozone depletion. Farmers provide data on their daily operations, including feed composition and use, manure management practices, animal mortality, the electricity system and the other infrastructure, transportation logistics and mitigation technologies employed, like scrubbers or excess heat circulation systems, and sometimes packaging to the software. <\/span><\/p>\n

Blonk\u2019s environmental footprint technology then produces a life cycle assessment of the farm, an analysis of the environmental impact of rearing an animal from inception to when it exits the farm gate. DSM and Blonk have created Sustell modules for most land farm animals, including chickens, pigs and dairy and egg production, and plans to extend it to cover beef and aquaculture.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is really key is that we were able to build on this momentum of methodologies and standards that have been developed,\u201d said Hans Blonk, CEO of Blonk Consultants and Blonk Sustainability Tools.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Yard Stick provides measurement technology to combat climate change<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Blonk was able to combine agriculture environmental standards from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, European Commission and many others in one place to create the vast library of background data needed for the software to produce useful and actionable insights.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCustomers at the moment really want to understand what they\u2019re doing,\u201d Nickell said. \u201cThey want to understand their baseline [footprint] and rank them. Understand what\u2019s good, and what\u2019s not so good. Customers want to understand how they rate compared to peer benchmarking, whether it\u2019s a country or an industry benchmark.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Once the Sustell software gives farmers clarity on the emissions on their farms, they can then identify where improvements need to be made and DSM helps implement ways of reducing those emissions, creating an end-to-end service for customers and hopefully a positive impact on the planet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPractical interventions make change happen,\u201d Nickell said. \u201cWe\u2019ve invested in technologies which reduce the footprint of animal products production. The service is measurement and marry that up with bringing solutions, which make a difference. That\u2019s the complete solution to making this much-needed change happen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But in order for Sustell to create that change, it needs to be adopted widely and the learnings need to be shared between competitors. Right now, DSM and, in some ways, the capitalist system, isn\u2019t set up for that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Nickell, DSM is first focusing Sustell on big integrated livestock companies. This is a common challenge with new innovative environmental technologies that can be adopted by big farming conglomerates or co-ops with money and resources to spend, while smaller family farms get left behind. But Nickell hopes that Sustell can scale to work with smaller farms, as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The second issue is around data sharing. While Nickell was very clear that Sustell will be following all applicable data privacy and ownership rules \u2014 and that\u2019s usually a good thing \u2014 in order to really create meaningful environmental change, transparency is actually key. Competitors need to share the best ways for reducing emissions so everyone can adopt them and save the planet, but many companies are very data protective.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think maybe that [data sharing] develops in time,\u201d Nickell said. \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re there yet. Maybe it will get to that level as more and more customers are transparent on their footprint and their reporting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Outdoor startups see supercharged growth during COVID-19 era<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Article source: https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2021\/06\/08\/a-new-climate-calculator-for-livestock-aims-to-help-ranchers-reduce-emissions\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it comes to sustainable livestock production and agriculture, measurement is the first \u2014 and sometimes most elusive \u2014 step in the process of turning our food system from a <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-24799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-networking-and-communication","tag-network-and-communication"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t