Dairy farming, holistic planned grazing and climate

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In this webinar, Christine Bajohr (farmer and project coordinator) will present the KuhProKlima Projekt (Cows for Climate Project) in the Allgau district bordering the Bavarian Alps.

Given the local climate, soils and topography, grass, hay and dairy cows are almost the only forms of farming that make sense in the Allgau. But dairy farming has the reputation of being an intensive kind of husbandry, with significant climate effects. Market forces in Europe are worsening this by pushing dairy farms into higher productivity and larger scales.

Aware of this, eight Allgau dairy farmers joined forces with scientists and conservation practitioners in a collaborative on-farm research project to test under real-life conditions whether their dairy systems could become climate-friendlier and more regenerative for soils and biodiversity.

The core method is to deploy holistic planned grazing, and find out, farm-by-farm, which fine-tuning lowers input costs and GHG emissions most and has the best effects on grassland quality and diversity. Close monitoring of parameters will allow conclusions to be drawn and written up in practical farm plans and manuals.

Christine will explain how the project, which is underway until 2023, came about, its approach, what the farmers intend to elaborate, what the project has already figured out, which challenges participants have encountered, and how they plan to move forward. As well as its innovative touches, such as using crowdfunding to get matching funds for the required own contribution to the grant finance.