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FoodBev Media
8 April 2008
IDF to hold first dairy farming summit
In a joint effort to tackle climate change and further increase sustainable practices, the International Dairy Federation and De Laval have come together to organise the first IDF Dairy Farming Summit under the theme ‘Climate Change – The Heat is On?’.
The Summit, the first in a series of events to concentrate on dairy farming issues, will take place at the Sheraton Hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland and the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) Crichton Royal Farm in Dumfries from 25-27 June 2008.
The event is entirely devoted to global warming, its impact on dairy farming and how dairy farming affects the environment. Topics that will be discussed include the impact of climate change on animal health and welfare in the dairy sector, pollution, deforestation, water shortage and energy use.
“Our aim is to give the dairy farmers some practical and hands on advice on what they can do to reduce environmental impact as part of their daily routines. We all have a responsibility when it comes to these questions and we can contribute one way or the other,” says David Homer, Chairman of the Organising Committee and the person responsible for co-ordinating IDF’s dairy farming programme.
Like most businesses today agriculture needs to consider its contribution to the climate change. At the same time the increasing global temperature presents a fundamental threat to millions of farmers all over the world.
IDF Director General Christian Robert adds: “IDF is taking a proactive approach to support sustainable agriculture by identifying best practices and sharing international experiences. Our objective is to ensure the production of safe and high quality nutritious dairy food for human consumption, undertaken in harmony with the environment.”
Main highlights will include presentations on energy source and usage (USA), water access and usage (Egypt), climate change and global warming (The Netherlands), contamination and pollution (China) and biodiversity and deforestation (Brazil). In addition, a review of the FAO report entitled ‘Livestock’s Long Shadow’, the predicted climate models for the featured countries and an evaluation of the economic implications will also be presented.