The Farm Zero C project aims to set up a climate-neutral profit-making dairy farm – is it possible?

This month in Climate Now we see the strategies deployed to slash emissions and boost biodiversity at Farm Zero C, as well as discussing the many challenges ahead on the road to climate neutrality.

Our report comes as the Copernicus Climate Change Service recorded yet another series of record high temperatures for the month, another indication of the rapid warming underway as greenhouse gas emissions from human activity increase. 

Globally we had the warmest April on record, with temperatures 0.7 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average, or 1.58 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average for the month. 

Europe saw a sharp contrast in temperature anomalies across the continent. It was much warmer than average in the east of Europe and at the same time, Scandinavia was a few degrees colder than average last month. Sea surface temperatures were at a record high for April.

Northerly parts of Europe saw above average precipitation in April, contrasting with drier than average areas from eastern Spain to Türkiye.

The Farm Zero C project has already made significant progress in its work to slash emissions and boost biodiversity, even though a lot remains to be done. "We have already achieved a 27% reduction in our carbon footprint," explains project manager Padraig Walsh. "We're hoping to get this to about 50 to 65% in phase two and be climate neutral by 2030."

Hitting those targets will not be easy, principally because a lifecycle assessment at the outset of the project showed that the farm's main sources of greenhouse gases were also its milk producers - their 250 Friesian Holstein Jersey crossbred cows. 

"We could see that methane was a huge emitter for us," Padraig recalls. "Over 50% of our emissions come from