Inside the world’s first low emissions milk business

A Tasmanian dairy farmer has launched the world’s first commercial low emissions milk and he’s confident consumers will get behind it.

The Australian dairy industry is working on tackling carbon emissions, with a Tasmanian dairy producer launching the world’s first commercially available low emissions milk.

Dairy producer and processor, Ashgrove, has partnered with Sea Forest, a global leader in Asparagopsis seaweed cultivation, which has developed SeaFeed – a supplementary feed product with the potential to reduce methane emissions from livestock by up to 90 per cent, to develop Ashgrove Eco-Milk.

Ashgrove Eco-Milk is a full cream milk, and is being sold in Woolworths, Coles, and IGA supermarkets across Tasmania.

Ashgrove general manager Richard Bennett and Sea Forest founder and CEO Sam Elsom with the new Ashgrove Eco-Milk.

Ashgrove managing director Richard Bennett said they could see another Tasmanian company coming up with an innovative solution to carbon emissions and they wanted to see what they could do to create a dairy product.

Mr Bennett said the dairy cows, on one of Ashgrove’s five dairy farms, were fed the SeaFeed supplement, which was in an oil form, at milking time along with their normal muesli and grain ration.

SeaFeed then helps the cows produce less methane gas and there was about a 25 per cent methane abatement.

Mr Bennett said with five generations behind Ashgrove, sustainability was a big part of what they live and breathe and the eco-milk offered consumers a choice.

“If consumers want to make a contribution to lowering methane emissions, this is a small way they can participate, by buying this milk,” he said.

Ashgrove Eco-Milk.

While there is a slight premium for the Ashgrove Eco-Milk, Mr Bennett said they were pretty confident consumers would get behind it.

Sea Forest chief executive Sam Elsom said the collaboration demonstrates the potential of SeaFeed to revolutionise the dairy industry globally.

SeaFeed has been used across commercial farming and feedlots for the past three years and is backed by more than 30 peer-reviewed studies.

Sea Forest is also partnering with dairy leader Fonterra to reduce emissions.