News article, 20. December 2021
Danish farmers' green transition initiatives
Danish food cluster aims for carbon neutrality by 2050: SEGES provides climate training and a digital climate calculation tool for all farmers.
Danish agriculture has set itself ambitious goals for the climate area. The green transition of agricultural and food production is also important to society. This was recently highlighted by the autumn’s Danish agricultural agreement and the UN’s COP 26 summit in Glasgow.
Read also: A broad-based agreement on the green transition of Danish agriculture falls into place
The purpose of the Danish-developed climate tool and climate training
In the first quarter of 2022, SEGES is launching a unique digital climate tool for agriculture and climate training for farmers and agricultural students. The initiative is supported by the Forenet Kredit association.
The purpose of the climate tool and training is to support the industry’s climate ambitions and to contribute to the achievement of the climate-related political goals. These new climate tools will also underpin Denmark’s position as a pioneering country for climate action and sustainable green transition.
Determining carbon footprint
The two initiatives will help current and future farmers reduce their carbon footprint and directly contribute to the green transition. The climate tool will enable all farmers – part-time farmers to largescale agricultural producers – to obtain a current status on the carbon footprint of their farm, calculate the effect of various, possible climate initiatives and get help in selecting the best measures.
Facts about the initiative
- The climate tool will be offered to all farmers from the start of 2022. It will provide individual farmers with the current status of their farm’s carbon footprint, calculate the effect of various, potential climate measures and help farmers to select the best one.
- The climate tool will be a digital solution that farmers can subscribe to. The tool will be developed on an ongoing basis and expanded with new functions and options and can be integrated into other existing databases already being used by the farmer.
- The climate training will be offered in 2022 and at the start of 2023. The aim is to train between 3,000-5,000 farmers and students. Training will be offered to both large and small farms in Denmark, including conventional and organic enterprises.
- The training will be in the form of a Climate Day, which will be a physical meeting, a number of online teaching modules and teaching materials, including a climate catalogue which will be designed to be used in farmer discussion groups.
- Calculating and documenting the carbon footprint for each farm – from housing unit and field to machinery and feed – requires access to quality data and assumes new data connections. In addition to calculating and documenting the carbon footprint from agricultural production, it will be possible to calculate the effect by implementing various measures. In this way, an action plan can be drawn up with the option of sharing data with relevant partners.
Read also: New climate gains for Danish pig production