![]() ROYAL CITY, Wash. – Royal Dairy has its sights set beyond ‘carbon neutral.’ Instead it’s looking for carbon negative solutions that actually capture and store more carbon than the dairy emits. Being carbon neutral is something that many businesses aspire to, but reaching carbon negative has recently been recognized as a real possibility for Washington dairy farms. The steps Royal Dairy is taking to become a carbon-negative farm are examples of the many ways farmers are working toward improving our environment, across Washington state and beyond. Austin Allred, owner of Royal Dairy, acknowledges climate change is an issue, but instead of seeing dairy farming as a problem in this equation, he believes cows are a solution for climate change. “If we were to focus on cows as the solution, not the problem, we can unlock our soil to bank all the carbon we want,” he says. Because of the climate-focused practices Allred has developed, Stuart Turner, his agronomist, believes that Royal Dairy could be the first carbon-negative dairy. Although there are many different styles, an efficient nutrient management system is an important part of all WA dairy farms. Through feeding high quality ingredients to their cattle, dairy farmers also harvest a nutrient-packed organic fertilizer in the form of manure. ![]() “We harvest the crops and feed that to the cow. The cow uses some of that energy in the form of the product that we desire, which is milk. And then the rest of it is in the form of liquid or solid manure,” Turner says. To most people, manure is usually seen as a waste product, but this is not the case for dairy farms. All of the liquid and solid manure on any given dairy farm can be captured and used as fertilizer. On Royal Dairy, the solid components of the manure are used as compost, while the liquid goes through a unique filtration system. This system uses worms and microbes to filter nutrients out of liquid manure. The end result is clean water that can be used to irrigate crops, and organic compost that can be used as fertilizer. Using manure or compost on the soil also helps to enhance the quality. With their filtration system, Royal Dairy can also recycle the worm castings and wood shavings as fertilizer. With proper nutrient and irrigation practices, crop and soil health are improved. Another practice to improve soil health is using no-till cropping, or in Royal Dairy’s case, strip-tilling, which is a minimal-tillage method that only disturbs the soil in areas where seeds will be planted. By reducing the amount of soil tilled, carbon stays in the soil rather than escaping into the air. Also, soil microbes as well as plant root systems are protected so they can continue to feed crops and store even more carbon. “All these pieces contribute to having a soil that is healthy and pulling carbon out of the air and banking it.” says Allred. This creates a sustainable closed-loop system that animal agriculture is best known for. These practices are only the beginning. Allred and Turner firmly believe that agriculture can be a solution for climate change. As more data is gathered, more practices can be developed and Washington dairy farmers will continue to adapt their systems. Working together, agriculture can be part of the equation to solving climate change and creating a better environment for all of us. To learn more about how dairy farmers are sequestering carbon, we recommend the following articles: The Daily Churn Seattle Times The Organic Magazine The Cheese Professor Compost and cover crops, practices regularly used on Washington dairy farms, are two viable solutions for reducing carbon emissions. Story coverage made possible thanks to support from
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