Milk | TableDebates

Greenhouse gas emissions from pig and poultry production sectors in China from 1960 to 2010

Meat consumption is increasing, especially in the emerging economies. The Chinese government has an increasing interest in making steps towards sustainable livestock production, and the more GHG (greenhouse gas) “efficient” pork and poultry industries have seen substantial progress towards sustainability in the recent past.

Photo: Peter O’Connor, Cattle Herd, Flickr, Creative Commons License 2.0

CFS HLPE Report: Sustainable Agricultural Development for Food Security and Nutrition: what roles for Livestock?

This report commissioned by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and written by its High Level Panel of Experts for Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) focuses on sustainable agricultural development for food security and nutrition, specifically in relation to livestock.

New EU law passed allowing for promotion of school milk and fruit and vegetable consumption

The EU parliament has now approved a law which will merge the separate EU school milk and fruit schemes and boost their combined annual budget from €20m to €250m a year.

Composition differences between organic and conventional meat and milk

Two recent systematic literature reviews conclude that both organic milk and meat contain around 50% more beneficial omega-3 fatty acids than conventionally produced products. The team led by Newcastle University, reviewed 196 papers on milk and 67 papers on meat and found clear differences between organic and conventional milk and meat, especially in terms of fatty acid composition, and the concentrations of certain essential minerals and antioxidants.

Synthesis reports: organic agriculture positively affects a number of public benefits, but more detailed research needed to fully understand impacts on health

In a major report, ICROFS (International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems) at Aarhus University, Denmark evaluates the health and environmental impacts of organic versus conventionally farmed foods.

Study on “fat tax” finds even very small price changes are effective to shift demand to low calorie alternatives

This paper published in Marketing Science finds that small price differences at the point of purchase (a so-called excise tax) can be highly effective in shifting consumer demand from high calorie to healthier low calorie alternatives.

Effects of an environmental tax on meat and dairy consumption in Sweden

Meat and dairy consumption have increased globally over the past fifty years. As livestock account for 80% of agriculture’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, this article argues that to achieve climate targets, humans need to change their dietary habits.

A line of milk bottles. Photo by Mehrshad Rajabi via Unsplash.

The implications of empirical and 1:1 substitution ratios for consequential LCA: using a 1 % tax on whole milk as an illustrative example

In this piece, FCRN member Neil Chalmers discusses a recent paper he co-authored with Matthew Brander (University of Edinburgh Business School) and Cesar Revoredo-Giha (Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) published in The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.Neil is studying a PhD titled “Demand for low carbon food products” at the University of Edinburgh. Neil was educated at the University of Stirling where he received a BA (Hons) in Economics. He then moved to Denmark and received an MSc in Agricultural Economics from the University of Copenhagen. His main interests are the economics of consumer behaviour and carbon policy and modelling the likely effects of agricultural and environmental policy. Neil has also completed an internship with the Scottish Agricultural College focusing on modelling policy implications for Scotland.

Rise in consumption of non-dairy milk substitutes in Europe and US

This Bloomberg article describes how as a percentage of all new milk products on the market in 2014, non-dairy milk products made up 24% and 31% in European and North American respectively. In addition to oat, soy and almond milk, scientists have also developed alternatives based on from hemp and quinoa. The article focuses on the case of a Swedish Oat-milk producing company Oatly – a company that has seen sales grow significantly with revenue increasing with 37 percent this year. It describes how “(t)he expanding range of options has helped broaden the appeal of products such as Oatly beyond vegetarians, vegans, and the lactose intolerant”.