Our July 2026 bulletin examines climate change's agricultural impact, VetSalus’s Arla collaborations, and global updates on AMR policy and New Zealand dairy.
40C: Is this the new normal?
Anyone living in or visiting Europe during June will have experienced some scorching hot weather: even here in west Wales the thermometer hit 35C for a day or two! A recent article in Nature asks the very pertinent question: “Does Europe have a new climate?”
“What used to be rare has become a regular event,” says Erich Fischer, a climate scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. Temperature records “are just happening all the time, everywhere, and actually even being broken by large margins.”
Scientists still debate when this trend began, with the evidence supporting a steady increase since 1980, there is little debate about the fact that these temperatures will reoccur, with increasing frequency.
While the short term impact on the human population is extremely concerning, the negative medium term trends on agriculture, both arable and animal, are more worrying with the potential for food production and animal health and welfare to be seriously compromised. Extreme climate events, like those reported in Europe this June, put a serious question mark against the ongoing sustainability of many farming systems.
More on Trees
In last month’s newsletter we reported on Australian work which identified a potentially new source of carbon sequestration: the microbiome of tree bark. The exact calculation of how much carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere by growing trees is complex, as two stories below show.
The Guardian reported on some research from the USA which showed that in dry, arid conditions wood formation slows and so as the planet warms we may be over-estimating how much carbon trees will suck up.
“Right now, most models assume that if you have photosynthesis, you have growth. We find that’s not the case,” says lead author Mukund Palat Rao, an ecoclimatologist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, which is part of the Columbia Climate School.
And we are all increasingly familiar with ‘carbon credits’ but a recent article in New Scientist suggest their contribution is also often over-estimated. One study recently suggested that as little as 1/11th of carbon credit projects in the Amazon were valid.
We have previously expressed concerns about carbon credits and net zero trends. The science of carbon and climate change is never simple but it is worrying when the very cornerstones of policy on carbon sequestration are called into question, especially as atmospheric CO2 levels and global temperatures continue to rise.
VetSalus and Arla
VetSalus has recently been involved in the first of a series of Knowledge Building Events for dairy giant ARLA. Throughout the year, suppliers to ARLA are incentivised, by an increased payment for their milk, to attend “Knowledge Building Events” (KBE’s), which are organised periodically in a number of countries. VetSalus has developed a short training course on stress free stockmanship and the first of these was delivered in Denmark, by VetSalus consultants Anne Katrine, Ole and Tobias, in late April. Since then a further four have been delivered in Denmark, with online versions also available in Denmark and Sweden. Germany, and BeNeLux meetings are planned for presentation soon. Work is also underway in the United Kingdom to develop another Knowledge Building Event on a different subject, for delivery later in the year.
The courses are proving to be very popular with farmers and the project has recently been nominated in the “animal care” category of the International Dairy Federation Awards.
As an organisation, VetSalus is delighted to be involved with this initiative: work to improve animal welfare is core business for the veterinary consultancy group.
Antimicrobial Resistance and WHO
The background policy work on many subjects often gets lost when sensational headlines and ‘false truths’ are the foundation of much modern journalism. The World Health Organisation (WHO) is often subject to much negative publicity and its frequently valuable work is too often ignored. The WHO recently adopted a new ten year Global Action Plan for antimicrobial resistance. Building on previous plans this version has broadened its approach while remaining firmly centred on ONEHealth principles.
“AMR remains one of the most significant global health and development challenges, affecting humans, animals, plants, food systems and the environment. The updated GAP-AMR provides a comprehensive One Health framework to guide coordinated global, regional and national action over the next decade.”
Few will find cause to argue with that statement.
Pastoralism
Olivia Boothman, one of our colleagues at the Sustainable Food Trust, has recently written an interesting review article on the role of Pastoralism internationally: “Slow Journeys across the World.” As the intensification of agriculture steadily increases in the western world, it is important to consider alternative perspectives. VetSalus was pleased to provide some information and comments on this article. You can find the article here: https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/news-views/slow-journeys-across-the-world-how-pastoralism-can-help-us-recover-our-relationship-with-the-land/
Some New Zealand Snippets:
Dairy Herd Reproduction in New Zealand
A summary of the reproductive performance of the NZ dairy Herd was recently published and showed a six week in calf rate ( a strong measure of how many cows will calve 12 months after their previous calving) of 70.4%, reports the NZ Farmers Weekly. This represents a slight rise from the 70.2% of the previous season, which is significant when the data is based on 4,776 herds and 2.6 million cows.
There will be no single reason for this steady improvement; reproduction is complex and results will be affected by many factors including climate, nutrition, management and animal health. Reproduction, as we have shown in our recent series “How Vets Reduce the Carbon Footprints on Farms”, is however at the cornerstone of increased sustainability of dairy production.
A new initiative
The New Zealand government recently announced a major new investment aimed at supporting a more productive, sustainable dairy industry. The programme, known as Responsible Dairy, will be led by DairyNZ. Responsible Dairy will be funded over seven years with the total investment totalling over NZ$45 million. ‘Responsible Dairy’ aims to bring together leading farmers and dairy and technology partners to test and demonstrate next-generation farm systems. It is hoped that, as a result of the program, new technologies will be adopted many years earlier, helping to keep the New Zealand dairy industry globally competitive.
Publication pending: ’How Vets Change the Carbon Footprints of Farms’
Early Autumn will see the launch of a compilation booklet produced by VetSalus which will feature updated articles on a number of themes linked to the self-explanatory title. Written by VetSalus founding director, Lewis Griffiths, each piece is written in an easy read, short summary format but references are supplied for those who want to dig deeper. The booklet, which will be downloadable from the VetSalus website, should provide busy vets with a wide range of easily accessible information.
This newsletter has used A.I. resources to search for references but these were reviewed before use and the articles have been written and edited by a human brain.
If you are interested in the work of VetSalus, you will find a wider range of articles and educational material on our web site: www.vetsalus.com