What does a sustainable dairy industry look like, and what contribution can it make to a sustainable world? Dairy 2020 is a collaboration between key organisations and people across the UK dairy industry challenged with answering that question.
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The dairy industry provides products that support health and wellbeing, helps sustain rural communities, and plays a vital role in looking after our land. It’s an industry that we care about and value. But the 21st Century presents us with some big challenges: climate change, economic difficulties, and changing demands from consumers and businesses.
The first phase of the project was launched by Jim Paice MP at the House of Commons in April 2012. This was the culmination of 18 months work during which Forum worked with organisations right across the dairy supply chain. Together we co-created possible future scenarios for the dairy industry. Using these, the group agreed a vision for a sustainable dairy industry, and developed and framework of guiding principles for how we can get there. The video to the left explains this process.
The project is now in phase II - working on the detail within each guiding principle - and the actions required to make the vision a reality.
Find out more about the project, latest progress, and who’s involved on our dedicated website.
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Comments
I hope you will be briefing those who write the Archers?
Verticle farming is an interesting concept but raises a multitude of logistical problems that need to be overcome. You could eliminate food mileage but you would still need to transport your plant nutrients from somewhere - this could be partially from urban and sewage waste but it would still need treatment and transport.
You also need a decent supply of light which is possible with the use of mirrors etc but requires more investment. And after you have grown the food it has to be harvested by someone or something.
It is hard to see cereal production using this method of farming in the near future although it has potential for high quality veg in urban centres. I think there are lower tech and cheaper solutions to food supply, namely reducing food waste.
The concept of vertical farming has the potential to address a multitude of food production, yield and security issues. Adoption of a vertical farming system (the concept of essentially stacking greenhouses on top of each other to expand production vertically instead of horizontally), has the ability to increase yields to 365 days/year, eliminate food milage due to the associated ability to localize food production in Urban areas, reforest land currently allocated for monoculture (increasing carbon sequestration and topsoil production), maximize produce freshness while simultaneously eliminating waste, provide new job markets, and drastically decrease the amount of potable water used for irrigation through hydroponics and aeroponics. Unfortunately, there are no current working models of a vertical farm to display profitable returns to potential investors but, perhaps, this is where Forum for the Future can use its expertise.
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