Dairy Sustainability Tool“: Implementation and feasibility of a sector-specific concept for the sustainable development of dairy production in Germany

Background and Objective

Sustainability is increasingly becoming a specific requirement for the production, processing and marketing of food. Internationally and nationally, consumers, society, food retailers and food companies want to know from the German dairy industry: how sustainable is your milk produced? However, the integration of dairy farms in (dairy processor-specific) sustainability concepts poses particular challenges: on the one hand, a large number of dairy farms, some with very different production conditions, must be taken into account. On the other hand, a very broad range of sustainability aspects covering the fields of economy, ecology, social issues and animal welfare have to be recorded on dairy farm level.

Against this background an initial concept for a so-called “Dairy Sustainability Tool” was developed by the Thünen Institute of Farm Economics together with the QM Milch e. V., the project office Land und Markt and different actors in the dairy industry, building on two previous sustainability projects in Lower-Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. The tool consists of a questionnaire for measuring 84 sustainability criteria, factsheets with explanations (background and status-quo) of every sustainability criteria and their respective ratings, a web-based questionnaire and a database. The “Dairy Sustainability Tool” serves as a basic tool for an initial illustration of sustainability aspects on dairy farm level. It can be seen as a starting point to create awareness for a more sustainable development among a large number of dairy farms and as an instrument for a continuous learning and development process.

The overall objective of the project was to put the “Dairy Sustainability Tool” in practice on a large scale for the first time, to check its feasibility and recognition at all stages of the value chain, and furthermore to develop the tool based on the knowledge gained. As a result there should be an outwardly transparent industry solution for the sustainable development of dairy production in Germany, which is suitable for a wider successful dissemination.

The project was carried out in cooperation with QM-Milch e. V. and the project office Land und Markt. The Landeskontrollverband North Rhine-Westphalia (database) was also involved. 34 dairy processors varying in size and orientation and one milk producer organisation were participating in the pilot project.

Approach

Project activities included:

1. Introducing and testing the “Dairy Sustainability Tool“: The dairy processors surveyed their milk producers with the questionnaire of the "Dairy Sustainability Tool". Usually, milk producers themselves entered the data into the central database using the web-based questionnaire. Afterwards, data was checked for plausibility and analysed by the Thünen Institute. Each dairy processor received a comprehensive report on the results. Additionally, results were presented internally to the dairy processor. Together, the facts about the status quo were examined and discussed, goals for the further development of sustainable dairy production were formulated and possible measures for implementation were developed. In addition to the reports for the individual dairy processors, there were annual analyses of all the data, as well as in-depth scientific analyses of the data.
2. Checking the international connectivity of the "Dairy Sustainability Tool": Within a stakeholder analysis, the sustainability concepts of international initiatives and selected dairy processors in the Netherlands, Ireland and New Zealand were examined. The aim was to investigate national and international sustainability activities at the level of the dairy industry in order to be able to situate the "Dairy Sustainability Tool" within a national and international context and to make recommendations for the further development of the tool.
3. Examining the practicability and acceptance of the "Dairy Sustainability Tool": In an evaluation the perspectives of the participating dairy factories and their milk producers as well as retailers, processing industry, science and NGOs on the so far implemented concept and the associated activities will be examined. These results will be considered in the revision of the tool.
4. Developing a future-proof concept: For the further development of the "Dairy Sustainability Tool", workshops were held with external participants from science and consulting as well as representatives of social stakeholders. Based on these workshops and all other project modules, the various components of the module were revised.

Data and Methods

The data were collected by means of a written (online-based) questionnaire. The evaluation of the data for the dairy processors was mainly descriptive. Multivariate statistical methods were also used for the in-depth scientific analyses. We also applied qualitative methods (group discussions, expert discussions) as part of the evaluation and stakeholder analysis.

Results

Links and Downloads

www.qm-milch.de/nachhaltigkeit

www.qm-milch.de/publizierte-ergebnisse