Ben and Jerry's Low Carbon Dairy Project aims for 50% emissions reduction
March 29, 2025 | Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Committees, Legislative , Vermont
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The House Agriculture meeting held on March 28, 2025, focused on the Low Carbon Dairy Project, a subset of the Caring Dairy program initiated by Ben and Jerry's. The project aims to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from dairy farms.
Ben and Jerry's, supported by a three-year grant from its parent company Unilever, has been working with seven farms in Vermont and ten in Europe to implement various interventions aimed at cutting emissions by 50%. However, as the project nears its conclusion, it has been acknowledged that this target will not be met, although significant progress has been made in enhancing farm resilience.
The discussion highlighted that approximately half of Ben and Jerry's greenhouse gas emissions stem from its dairy supply chain. Key areas of focus include enteric emissions—those produced by the animals themselves—and manure management. The company is exploring innovative solutions such as feed additives to reduce enteric emissions and technologies like manure digesters to manage methane emissions from manure pits.
Despite challenges in getting feed additives approved, the project has seen a 16% reduction in emissions from the participating farms as of 2022. The company has invested over $40 million since 2011 in initiatives to support sustainable practices among dairy farmers, particularly in Vermont.
The meeting concluded with optimism about integrating successful strategies from the Low Carbon Dairy Project into the broader Caring Dairy program in the future, emphasizing the importance of resilience and environmental responsibility in dairy farming.
Ben and Jerry's, supported by a three-year grant from its parent company Unilever, has been working with seven farms in Vermont and ten in Europe to implement various interventions aimed at cutting emissions by 50%. However, as the project nears its conclusion, it has been acknowledged that this target will not be met, although significant progress has been made in enhancing farm resilience.
The discussion highlighted that approximately half of Ben and Jerry's greenhouse gas emissions stem from its dairy supply chain. Key areas of focus include enteric emissions—those produced by the animals themselves—and manure management. The company is exploring innovative solutions such as feed additives to reduce enteric emissions and technologies like manure digesters to manage methane emissions from manure pits.
Despite challenges in getting feed additives approved, the project has seen a 16% reduction in emissions from the participating farms as of 2022. The company has invested over $40 million since 2011 in initiatives to support sustainable practices among dairy farmers, particularly in Vermont.
The meeting concluded with optimism about integrating successful strategies from the Low Carbon Dairy Project into the broader Caring Dairy program in the future, emphasizing the importance of resilience and environmental responsibility in dairy farming.
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