MAKING A BUSINESS CASE FOR SUSTAINABLE DAIRY PRODUCTION

This report by WWF South Africa, developed with Trace & Save and Nedbank, presents a business case for sustainable, regenerative dairy production in South Africa. Based on a case study of 62 pasture-based farms between 2013 and 2019, the report demonstrates a positive correlation between the implementation of sustainability best practices and increased farm profitability, alongside a reduction in environmental impact.

• There is a direct correlation between lower environmental impact and higher profitability on pasture-based dairy farms. Higher gross margins are associated with a lower carbon footprint and higher nitrogen and phosphorous utilisation.
• South African pasture-based dairy farms generally exhibit a lower environmental impact compared to global averages. The low environmental impact group in the study has a lower average carbon footprint than Oceania, which is 1.31 kg CO2e/kg FPCM, while the global average in 2015 was 2.40 kg CO2e/kg FPCM.
• Soil health is a critical driver of sustainability and economic performance. Healthy soils with optimal microbial life and structure require lower nitrogen fertiliser application rates to achieve optimal growth due to natural nutrient cycling.
• To limit environmental impact and increase profitability, farmers should focus on optimising rather than maximising milk production per cow. High environmental impact is associated with the lowest milk production and the highest rates of feeding with concentrates and bought non-pasture roughage.
• The report identifies several best practices for improving sustainability, including the use of multi-species pastures (mixtures of grasses, legumes, herbs, and brassicas) to build soil carbon and increase resilience to drought, and the implementation of rotational, high-density grazing.
• Implementing sustainable practices can lead to significant financial gains. One example farm increased its gross margin by 43%, rising from R1.72/litre to R3.01/litre between 2013 and 2019 after implementing changes advocated by Trace & Save.
• Geographic location, climate, and soil type are not limiting factors for sustainability. The study found that rainfall did not significantly impact environmental or economic performance, and farms from each region were represented across all impact groups.
• Extrapolating the case study results to all pasture-based dairy farms in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal over five years could reduce total carbon emissions by 10%, excess nitrogen by 27%, and phosphorous excess by 19%. Furthermore, increasing soil carbon by 0.2% could store approximately 15.75 million tons of CO2e, potentially making the sector carbon neutral.

APA

WWF South Africa (2021). MAKING A BUSINESS CASE FOR SUSTAINABLE DAIRY PRODUCTION. https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_nedbank_dairy_business_case_report_v2.pdf

Chicago

WWF South Africa. MAKING A BUSINESS CASE FOR SUSTAINABLE DAIRY PRODUCTION. 2021. https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_nedbank_dairy_business_case_report_v2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=WWF South Africa |title=MAKING A BUSINESS CASE FOR SUSTAINABLE DAIRY PRODUCTION |date=2021 |url=https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_nedbank_dairy_business_case_report_v2.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wwfsouthafrica2021making, author = {{WWF South Africa}}, title = {{MAKING A BUSINESS CASE FOR SUSTAINABLE DAIRY PRODUCTION}}, institution = {WWF South Africa}, year = {2021}, url = {https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_nedbank_dairy_business_case_report_v2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }