Food for thought…

• Biotechnology could change the cattle industry. Will it succeed
• Refreshing your Materiality Matrix after Covid-19
• New Study Supports Value of Feeding Transition Milk
• Climate change-driven disasters making insurance premiums too dear for farmers
• Mitigation of greenhouse gases in dairy cattle via genetic selection

Biotechnology could change the Cattle Industry. Will it succeed? (reported in Undark Magazine) Gene editing could help scientists produce cows that are meatier and better for the planet. But many hurdles remain. Read the full article

Refreshing your Materiality Matrix after Covid-19 - Many of you joined us for the recent DSF webinar on Materiality where we heard about Innovation Center for US Dairy’s materiality process experience (DSF Members can access it.) This article from Finch & Beak might be of interest as it highlights why a review of your materiality matrix might be important now, to consider the impact of a pandemic on your business, from a general risk and opportunity perspective.  Read the full article

New Study Supports Value of Feeding Transition Milk (Bovine Veterinarian)  Researchers at the Universities of Alberta and Guelph in Canada believe it is possible that current industry practices may be depriving newborn calves of essential nutrients that are key to their digestive tract development.  Read the full article

Climate change-driven disasters making insurance premiums too dear for farmers (reported by ABC News).  This article discusses the issue of rising insurance premiums, with the increasingly frequent droughts, floods, hailstorms and bushfires, resulting in farmers either being under insured or cancelling their policies.  The article goes on to suggest that despite farmers working to reduce emissions from livestock and reducing their diesel and fertiliser use, the fossil fuel industry is creating emissions and that is slowly but surely making agriculture unviable.  Read the full article

Mitigation of greenhouse gases in dairy cattle via genetic selection (from Hoard’s Dairyman) – Researchers in Spain are targeting to reduce methane production by 20% in 10 years through selective breeding according to an article in the Journal of Dairy Science.  Read the full article