The True Cost Of Milk Production | Truth About Milk | FoodUnfolded Explains

Hi, I'm Katie, a contributor here at Food Unfolded. Do you drink cow's milk on a regular basis? If you are, then you belong to a shrinking number of people. Over the last 100 years, the image of milk has changed a lot. From being considered a staple in our nutrition, to being marketed as white gold, to then becoming a rather controversial product linked to high environmental costs and ethical concerns. For this reason, more people than ever are switching to plant-based alternatives. But is cow's milk really as problematic as some make it out to be? And what is the true cost of milk production? Let's look at animal welfare. Within the last 40 years, we have seen milk yield per cow more than double. Since the 1950s, the amount of milk produced per day by a German cow has more than tripled. But how is that possible? In intensive agriculture, cows are selectively bred for milk production. They are assigned a genetic score, determined by how much milk they produce, the fat content in the milk, and fertile years. The cows with the highest genetic score are selected for milk production. To make sure that these cows produce a lot of offspring, they are given hormones to produce fertile egg cells, which are then inseminated by top bulls. Embryos are then flushed out, inspected, and implanted into a second group of cows, bred specifically to carry the calves. A process quite far from natural reproduction, one could argue. This process has taken a toll on cows' health, determining a higher risk of metabolic disease and stress, which again can weaken the immune system. Also, having to produce more milk can increase the risk for mastitis, ovarian cysts, and lameness. Overall, not a great life, and a decline in longevity. But animal welfare is not the only thing we need to take into account when talking about the cost of milk production. Intensification has gone hand-in-hand with environmental effects, such as changes in land use, water consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions. Let's start from land use. Intensive dairy production often means less dispersed and more uniform farms. While the number of milk-producing farms has actually decreased in every European country, milk production has still increased in volume. We've seen huge stables replace open grasslands and alpine pastures that cows traditionally graze on. More intensification also means more fertilizers in feed production, and more fertilizers can mean more pollution. For example, when elevated levels of nitrogen nutrients seep into the groundwater, it can set off a chain reaction, leading to the death of the specific ecosystem. Looking at water consumption in dairy production, the story doesn't get much better. One third of the global water footprint is related to animal agriculture, and 19% of that to dairy cattle. In total, 600 liters of water are needed to produce just one liter of cow milk. And then there are emissions. Here, the picture isn't as clear. Producing one liter of cow milk actually releases more CO2 than any plant-based alternative. And cows account for around 20% of the global methane production, another potent greenhouse gas. But over the last 30 years, the European agriculture sector actually managed to reduce its carbon emissions by 23%. However, this wouldn't be enough to reach the EU's goals to reduce carbon emissions by half by the end of this decade. The answer to the question, should we stop drinking cow's milk and switch to plant-based alternatives, is, like many things in life, not so easy to answer. Especially when you take into account the difference in cost and nutritional value. One thing is clear. In order to balance animal welfare, environmental factors, and the income and well-being of farmers, we need to change the way in which we produce milk. There is hope, especially when we look at creative solutions to these problems. For example, a study showed that when fed a special type of seaweed, cow's methane emissions dropped by 80% while not impacting milk yield. In terms of animal welfare, we can see positive effects of these small-scale, less intensive production methods. Drinking less milk might be the simplest solution for some of us. But having new labels that allow us to clearly identify these less intensive production methods might eventually offer a sweet deal for our conscience.