Emissions from UK dairy
UK agriculture is responsible for 12 per cent of national greenhouse gas emissions, with livestock generating 63 per cent of that total. Within dairy, enteric methane accounts for around 45 per cent of system emissions and feed ingredients a further 28 per cent. Imported soybean meal is the largest single feed-related contributor. The UK imports around 2.5 million tonnes of soybean meal equivalents each year, almost all from Argentina, Brazil and the United States. Dairy uses roughly 14 per cent of that volume, about 360,000 tonnes, as a high-protein concentrate ingredient in dairy rations. With no UK soya production at scale the sector is wholly import-dependent for this critical feed input.
Why this matters now
Three pressures are converging on UK dairy. Retailers and milk processors have set Scope 3 emissions targets aligned with the Science Based Targets initiative, requiring measurable reductions in feed-related emissions across their supply base. The EU Deforestation Regulation and the UK Forest Risk Commodities framework will tighten due diligence requirements on soya from 2026, raising compliance cost and supply risk. UK farmers carry direct exposure to global protein commodity volatility, with limited ability to hedge. A homegrown, lower-emission alternative responds to all three at the same time, moving protein supply into the UK arable rotation, providing retailers with verifiable feed emissions reductions and giving farmers a route to protect margin.
The scale of the opportunity
If adopted across the UK dairy herd, the two InFaba feed ingredients could reduce sector emissions by 1.6 million tonnes of CO2e per year. This is equivalent to 110 g of CO2e per kilo of fat- and protein-corrected milk, or 8.5% of total UK dairy emissions. The associated social carbon value, calculated using the BEIS valuation of greenhouse gas emissions, is around £385 million per year. Realising that scale requires both ingredients to be adopted across the UK dairy supply chain. The InFaba project is designed to generate the trial data, lifecycle assessment and supply chain mechanisms needed to make that transition commercially viable for farmers, processors and retailers.