Sustainability has been long touted as an essential shift in farming practice. The burden of effort falls on the farm, where much of the value chain’s emissions are created. We ask: Is it possible for farmers to leverage this effort into profit? Or are farms destined to swallow the cost for the chain? Is sustainability a cost, or a source of new profits? For more and more producers, the answer is the latter.
Imagine a dairy farmer in the Netherlands, facing rising costs and mounting pressure to “go green.” At first, sustainability sounded like just another tick box exercise, to fit into an already busy day. But, by tracking emissions and adjusting feed strategies, this farmer didn’t just shrink their carbon footprint - they boosted milk yields, cut feed costs, and, resultingly saw profits rise.
Sustainability forced an efficiency focus, resulting in lower input for higher output. What seemed like a burden became a business breakthrough. Being not sustainable means wasting resources and also wasting money!
Put simply, when on-farm emissions are measured, the resulting reductions can be monetized through a combination of efficiency and end-product market positioning.
But what drives this change? Regulation, accessible finance through investors or banks, and customer as well as consumer demand. On-farm change always requires access to finance. Lower financing costs are now possible through ‘sustainable finance’, where banks reward strong environmental performance.
At the other end of the value chain, consumers state they would choose a more sustainable product when given a choice of two comparable products. For some dairy product types, consumers are even willing to pay more – particularly milk and yoghurt – if they believe in the pack footprint claims.
Figure 1. Ways that farm sustainability can drive value creation
A simple formula sums it up:
Reduced cost + Increased sales + Additional income = Improved profitability.
For every product a consumer picks off the shelf, >95% of the footprint will have been generated at farm-level, mainly driven by feed, manure and enteric fermentation – the scope 3 footprint. How do farmers reduce this footprint? It starts with reliable data.
Figure 2. Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions along the feed-to-fork value chain
Downstream players (e.g. retailers, CPG, and food service companies) have little potential to reduce their footprint by themselves; collaboration with producers is key.
Producers hold most of the potential to reduce emissions, while processors, retailers, and banks have the ability to reward verified improvements through better contracts, access to finance, or sustainability-linked premiums.
When data is connected across these players, everyone benefits. Producers can prove their sustainability performance and get rewarded, while downstream companies can meet their reporting and climate targets, and the entire system moves toward lower emissions.
Figure 3. Emissions reductions require cooperation along the value chain
Sustainability delivers the most value when it improves both the environment and the farm’s bottom line. Precision nutrition combined with accurate measurement drives significant emissions reductions and value creation at lowest cost. While the dairy value chain is committing to decarbonizing its value chain and setting ambitious Net Zero targets – how does that play out in the real world with producers?
Figure 4. An example of decarbonization of the dairy value chain
A base use case commissioned by dsm-firmenich in 2021 in a Dutch dairy system demonstrates the value creation made by emission reductions and precision nutrition. Using a third-party life cycle assessment (FAO, LEAP, and ISO standards), up to 17% reductions in emissions per kilogram of milk were made through better management.
Sustainability improvements meant healthier cows, lower feed costs, and more milk per animal. At the farm level, sustainability becomes profitable when environmental improvements go hand in hand with productivity gains.
Sustainability drives profitability, but only credible, verifiable data unlocks real value!
dsm-firmenich Animal Nutrition & Health supports producers in measuring their footprint with Sustell™. With verifiable data, Sustell™ unlocks the value of a footprint, offering services that allow producers to monetize their efforts.
Sustell ™ is a ready-made solution to help producers kick-start their sustainability journey. It calculates a producer’s unique footprint, using primary, farm-specific data (or proxies if no data is available), empowering them to take control and make meaningful, practical improvements – at low effort. Sustell™ is ISO-assured and follows standards such as EU-PEF.
Following footprint analysis, Sustell™ works to reduce the footprint through precise nutrition with verifiable solutions that can lower carbon emissions by 5 to 10%. Focusing on improved performance and longevity, strategies include optimizing protein utilization, managing mycotoxin risks, strengthening immunity, reducing mortality, supporting skeletal health, enhancing fertility and reproduction, preventing clinical mastitis, and reducing lameness.
Sustainable farming is a cycle of value creation: precision nutrition, efficient management, and animal well-being combine to deliver measurable emission reductions and stronger farm economics. Being sustainable is a clear indicator of efficiency - and efficiency in farming equals profitability . Need help to get started? dsm-firmenich Animal Nutrition and Health can measure and improve your environmental footprint to support incentives.
28 October 2025
