Ajinomoto Co., a leader in amino acid technology, is teaming up with Danone on one of the biggest challenges facing the dairy business: reducing the dairy business’ greenhouse gas emissions. It’s working with Danone on how to use its AjiPro®-L lysine supplement, which improves a cow’s nutrient uptake, thus raising the feed efficiency and lowering the pollution for cows. Spokesman Jeffrey Regnitz says the partnership fits into Danone’s “Partner for Growth” initiative: “a set of programs for suppliers to stimulate dairy farm sustainability globally.”.
Minimization of Emissions and Reduction in Feed Cost through AjiPro ®-L
A good portion of this effort will come from AjiPro-L. A formulated lysine product, AjiPro-L contains amino acids, which are critical to the health and well-being of a dairy cow’s health and productivity. Optimal nutrient absorption occurs with this formulation, and less feed is needed than at dietary levels.
AjiPro®-L lowers dependence on resource-hungry high-protein feedstuffs such as soybean meal, which are used lavishly but carry high environmental costs. The whole contribution of AjiPro L to emissions reduction both in feed production and digestive processes by the cow stands out here. Soybean meal is actually notorious for releasing carbon dioxide during its production process. This would mean that as much as 20% of carbon dioxide will be decreased as well as nitrous oxide by 25%. The latter is due to the amount of nitrogen excreted, which influences that powerful GHG, nitrous oxide.
Additional Methane Reduction with AjiPro®-L
In addition to the above-mentioned increases in methane-reducing additives, it can also enhance the action of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. The cow is a natural emitter of methane. Of all the major emitters in the agriculture-related sources of GHG emissions, it will emit methane through burping. Studies conducted in controlled conditions have shown that adding AjiPro-L with methane reduction additives resulted in reductions of the former from cows up to 30%. Hence, it becomes an effective tool for helping in reducing this higher global warming potential GHG than carbon dioxide.
Expansion of partnership across key markets:
Ajinomoto and Danone will direct their strategic cooperation towards five main target markets for dairy: Spain, Brazil, the United States, Egypt, and Morocco. Agreed to by the MoU between the two companies, they shall begin introducing AjiPro-L into these regions. This shall be an attempt to help the dairy farmers in these regions adopt more sustainable dairy farming practices not only to reduce their environmental footprint but also their feed costs and, therefore, improve the bottom line of the farms.
A more important driver of that collaboration is Danone’s initiative, “Partner for Growth”, by which it aims to offer innovations to farmers that will improve both their economic and environmental outcomes. Adding AjiPro®-L to the toolkit of dairy farmers increases efficiencies while reducing costs and emissions, both for their benefit and to that of the dairy sector as a whole.
Measurement of Emissions Reduction
On top of this, Ajinomoto and Danone will continue developing monitoring tools that would track reductions of GHG emissions as AjiPro L is rolled out on farms. These monitoring tools, in terms of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane, could facilitate quantifying the environment impacts incurred by farmers during production operations. These measurement systems will be very crucial in measuring the effectiveness of AjiPro®-L in real life to reduce GHG emissions and advance future enhancement of sustainability practice.
The Importance of Sustainable Dairy Production
The dairy industry is one of the significant contributors of worldwide GHG emissions; the release occurs due to cow digestion, manure management, as well as feed production. Through 2050, demand in the global dairy will continue to increase, and the environment will suffer under these conditions. Emissions in dairy farming, therefore need to be cut back in the fight against climate change.
The core of Ajinomoto is to leverage the amino acid expertise to address these problems in support of a greater purpose to contribute to the well-being and sustainability of this world for future generations. Danone is one of the largest producers of dairy in the world. It has committed to bringing its supply chain carbon neutral by 2050 with a heightened emphasis on non-carbon impacts through reducing the environmental footprint of dairy farming.
Keeping Farmers in the Key Markets as Profitable as Possible
Besides providing environmental benefits, Ajinomoto and Danone partnership will be directly targeting economic benefits for dairy farmers. AjiPro®-L is useful in the better absorption of nutrients, which reduces feed costs. This increases the chances of keeping or even improving production levels for dairy producers while at the same time reducing aggregate levels of input costs. This is particularly good for small and medium-scale dairy farmers who are faced with the challenge of rising feed prices and volatile market conditions.
This could be supplemented by solutions such as AjiPro®-L, thus enabling farmers to address some of the harsher environmental regulations that governments are increasingly adopting to fight climate change. They will have more chance of augmenting their sustainability credentials and better chances of benefiting from emerging carbon markets and incentives, with reduced methane and other GHG emissions.
Conclusion
The partnership between Ajinomoto Co. and Danone is an important step toward reducing the environmental impact of dairy farming. With AjiPro-L application on farms in Spain, Brazil, the US, Egypt, and Morocco, farmers will reduce their emissions while enhancing bottom line profitability on any farm. This program reduces global greenhouse gases while Danone furthers its vision to leverage its capabilities toward making agriculture sustainable. Noteworthy among these is the partnership between the dairy industry and companies such as Ajinomoto, which will address both issues, climate, and the agricultural community, by the ways they are seeking to reduce their environmental footprint.
Source: Ajinomoto