The British dairy company cooperative First Milk, in order to emphasize the role of dairy farming in achieving positive environmental results, launched the First4Milk initiative.

The initiative focuses on three key themes - people, animals, and land - and will focus on improving efficiency in these areas.

The initiative includes the development of a new smartphone application that combines multiple streams of key data that will allow farmers to view data and reports. The app will provide cooperative members with real-time information to help manage their farms.

In addition, First Milk has published a number of goals that should be pursued in order to increase the efficiency of its farms. These are: by 2025, a 65% reduction in carbon emissions; 40% reduction in energy consumption and 30% reduction in water use at processing sites.

It also provides for the protection of watercourses by compensating by 2022 for the entire production of nitrates, phosphates and sediments at processing sites and achieving a 40% reduction in food waste at sites by 2025.

Antibiotic management will be extended to all members of the dairy cooperative, and by 2020, participants in the initiative will have reached a level of antibiotic use below the target set by the Alliance for Responsible Drug Use in Agriculture (RUMA).

Mark Brooking, First Milk’s Membership Director, said: “Our new application will allow participants to collect and use existing information, placing it in one place without any additional work. We strive to develop this tool so that it can become an integral part of managing our farms for our members. ”