About the project

The fact that sustainable management is nothing new for milk producers in Germany is beyond question for many, but where does German milk production stand concretely „in terms of sustainability“? The QM-Dairy Sustainability Tool is a scientifically based tool for dairies and milk producers to answer this question based on facts and to be able to further develop milk production sustainably.

Storytime

As early as 2011, the dairy industry set out on its journey to measure sustainability performance and thus create a basis for improvement. Two concrete precursor projects led to the development of the QM- Dairy Sustainability Tool in its current version. Each step can be read in the belonging paper:

2011 – 2014:

State-wide status quo analysis on selected sustainability aspects of milk production in Lower Saxony (Thünen Working Paper 28; Sustainability and responsibility in milk production)

2014 – 2015:

State-wide status-quo analysis in Schleswig-Holstein (Thünen working Paper 43; Zukunft Milch)

Pilot phase 2017 to 2020

In order to enable all dairies nationwide to collect and map data on the complex topic of sustainability in German milk production at a reasonable cost, the QM- Dairy Sustainability Tool was developed by the Thünen Institute for Business Administration in cooperation with the project office Land und Markt on behalf of QM-Milch e.V.. and its main members German Farmers‘ Association (DBV), German Raiffeisen Association (DRV) and Dairy Industry Association (MIV). The Tool was shaped in intensive dialog processes with stakeholders from the whole supply chain: the dairy industry, science, representatives from the fields of environment and animal welfare, agricultural consultants and representatives of food trade and food industry. The survey is based on scientifically founded criteria and evaluation approaches. (Thünen Working Paper 54). The three-year pilot project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and applied by 34 dairies of different size and orientation nationwide, of which 26 used the sustainability module and conducted a survey among milk producers. In addition, 2 milk producer associations participated.

2020-2023: The QM-Dairy Sustainability Tool today

Due to the positive response of the pilot project, the QM-Dairy Sustainability Tool has been continued for another three years since July 2020 with 33 dairy companies and milk producer associations so far. Since 2017, Data of every 4th cow and every 10th hectare were collected.

With the QM-Dairy Sustainability Tool, it is possible

• to concretely record and evaluate a broad set of sustainability criteria from the areas of economy, ecology, social factors and animal welfare in dairy farms.
• to identify potential for improvement and optimization. The QM-Dairy Sustainability Tool supports dairies and production companies in the sustainable advancement of milk production
• to initiate a dialog on the relevant topics.
• to provide facts to be able to show market partners and society „where one stands in terms of sustainability“