2025: The Cornell Dairy Methane Benchmark: Validating Data to Support Climate Mitigation in Livestock (CATF, EDF)
With the U.S. dairy industry pledging to achieve Net Zero by 2050, there is an urgent need for scalable methane monitoring systems, as effective mitigation strategies depend on accurately and consistently tracking emissions over time. The primary goal of this project is to evaluate the feasibility of using satellite and aircraft-based methane data as a tool to monitor dairy farming emissions and inform policy development and on-farm decision making. Data will be gathered from the Cornell Nutrient Management Spear Program farms, from EDF’s MethaneAIR, which measures methane emissions from a specially equipped jet, from Carbon Mapper, and from the United Nations Environment Programme’s International Methane Emissions Observatory. To ensure practical impact, project partners will engage stakeholders through workshops with dairy farmers, industry experts, and policymakers.
This project is part of a dairy sustainability research program jointly managed by Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, The Nature Conservancy, Clean Air Task Force, and Environmental Defense Fund.
Cornell: Miel Hostens, Joseph McFadden, Quirine Ketterings (All Cornell CALS/Animal Science)
CATF: Fernanda Ferreira
EDF: Joe Rudek