To meet the targets outlined in the 2015 Paris Agreement, many countries are actively working towards reaching climate neutrality and achieving net zero by 2050. With the livestock sector estimated to contribute approximately 11-17% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more research and innovation is required to understand the cause of these emissions and how they can be reduced.

Achieving net zero dairy farming provides a detailed insight into the fundamental processes within the dairy cow and those that occur on dairy farms that contribute to and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The book also considers the range of strategies which can be implemented to support the transition to net zero, including improving housing and housing management, supplementing diets with methane-inhibiting feed additives and optimising manure/slurry application.

Edited by a established name in the field, the book will be a standard reference for university and other researchers in dairy science, environmental scientists, dairy farmers and livestock advisors, as well as government and other agencies supporting the transition to net zero in agriculture.

Dr John Webster is Emeritus Professor in Animal Husbandry at the University of Bristol, UK. He established the Animal Welfare and Behaviour Group at the University of Bristol, one of the largest and most highly-regarded of its kind in the world, and was a founder member of the Farm Animal Welfare Council which pioneered the Five Freedoms for farm animals. Professor Webster is editor of an earlier Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing volume: Achieving sustainable production of milk Volume 3: Dairy herd management and welfare (published in 2017). Other key books written or edited by Professor Webster include Understanding the Dairy Cow and Animal Husbandry Regained: the place of farm animals in sustainable agriculture.