Written by Rachel Martin
Pioneering Arla farmers are starting to make the most of their farmyard manure by turning it into biogas, which is now powering an Arla milk truck in Sweden.
It’s not only the climate that profits; the biogas can be a source of the income for Arla’s farmer-owners, and the biomass that remains after the dung is digested can be used as a fertilizer, creating a closed-loop system.
Kristian Osterling Eriknauer, Arla’s vice president of corporate responsibility, said: “The biogas initiative in Sweden demonstrates the potential of our farmer-owners in Arla’s transition to becoming carbon net-zero in 2050.
We have a huge opportunity to develop the market for biogas as the cow manure from the Arla farmers in Sweden alone corresponds to 54 million litres of diesel.
81 farmers in Sweden are already delivering manure to biogas plants, running both milk trucks and city buses.
More trials on fossil-free fuels
The biogas initiative in Sweden is one of several fossil-free fuel trials for transport running across the farmer-owned cooperative.
Over the next two years, as well as biogas-powered vehicles, battery-powered electric trucks will be tested in Arla’s core markets.
“Technologies are developing fast and so is the political landscape, which is why we follow developments and test emerging technologies before investing in full-scale rollouts,” Osterling Eriknauer added.
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