The KlimaStaR Milk resource project has reported significant progress four years after its launch, with participating dairy farms reducing their reliance on concentrate feed and increasingly using by-products from food production. This shift means that animal feed in direct competition with human nutrition is being used less, leading to more efficient resource use and a reduced environmental impact. The project's findings are now set to inform implementation across the entire Swiss dairy sector, according to a media release as PDF.
Launched in 2022 by Emmi, Nestlé, aaremilch, ZMP, and AgroCleanTech with support from the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture, KlimaStaR Milk is a cross-industry initiative aimed at promoting climate protection, adaptation to local conditions, and resource efficiency in milk production. Its goals include reducing greenhouse gas emissions and competition for feed-food and land by 20% each by 2027. By the end of 2025, 219 dairy farms producing around 73 million kilograms of milk annually were participating.
The project's fourth-year results validate the approach taken. Farms have reduced feed-food competition by approximately 23% since the project began, already exceeding the original 20% target. Competition for land has also continued to decline and now stands 15% below the baseline, a clear step in the right direction. Today, farms produce more milk and animal protein on the same area or one only slightly larger, with particularly marked progress at farms in the valley zone.
Greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram of milk have been reduced by around 8% on a relative basis since the start of the project. However, achieving further reductions is challenging for farms due to high investments and long planning horizons, among other factors. Additionally, the baseline values for greenhouse gas emissions in Switzerland were lower than originally assumed and are also below the international average, making further progress more difficult. By adjusting their milk production systems, farms reduced emissions per kilogram of milk by 66 grams of CO2 equivalents in 2025. While absolute emissions increased slightly due to higher overall milk production, they remained lower than they would have been without the measures implemented. Extrapolated to the 73 million kilograms of milk produced, this corresponds to a reduction of almost 5,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent compared with the original production system.
In the remaining two years of the project, farms will receive individual guidance and tailored advice on exploiting further reduction potential. Farms that have already succeeded in significantly lowering emissions while reducing competition for feed-food and land are sharing their experiences with other participants. More details about the project can be found on the KlimaStaR Milk website (in German), and supporting materials such as images, video testimonials, and animated infographics are available in the various KlimaStaR Milk documents.
The positive results are encouraging the industry to further expand its commitment to climate protection, adaptation to local conditions, and resource efficiency. Based on the project findings, the industry organisation Milch (BOM) has developed a climate calculator that has been available to all milk producers in Switzerland since July 2026. This tool allows farms to calculate their greenhouse gas emissions and the feed-food competition of their milk production and to determine optimisation measures. By using the methods developed in the project, the dairy industry is laying the foundation for applying the progress achieved at national level, beyond the project farms. It is thus making a tangible contribution to the objectives for Swiss agriculture up to 2050 adopted by the Federal Council, which include more climate-friendly production and increased use of grass and by-products from food production.
The implications of this announcement are significant. The project demonstrates that reducing feed-food competition and improving resource efficiency in dairy production is achievable at scale, providing a model that can be replicated across Switzerland. The climate calculator developed by BOM is a key tool that will enable all Swiss milk producers to measure and reduce their environmental impact, potentially leading to substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions nationwide. This aligns with broader national goals and could position the Swiss dairy sector as a leader in sustainable production. The original release can be viewed on www.newmediawire.com.
