Thank goodness someone’s done the arithmetic for us – on milk at least.
Thank goodness someone’s done the arithmetic for us – on milk at least.
Paul Callister is a New Zealand-based economist and a senior associate at the Institute of Governance and Policy Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. He’s set himself a challenge to reduce his carbon emissions as much as possible – a process, he says, that has taken him on quite a journey. As you’d expect, spreadsheets have been involved.
Taking a systematic approach, Callister started with the big ones, like flying and driving less, working through the categories until to came to food. He’s not a strict vegetarian or vegan, but tends towards plant-based food. The one category left was milk.
Callister says he’s very sympathetic to the farming community, and wants to see it prosper. He has worked on a dairy farm, his father was brought up on one, and his great-grandfather was a farmer. He says there are some great examples regenerative practices happening.
What ranks best: milk from cows or milk from plants like oat, soy, almond, rice or coconut?
Comparing carbon emissions from the production of different milks, oat milk came out tops, especially compared with dairy. One study suggests dairy is three times more greenhouse gas emission-intensive than plant-based milks.
When it came to water use oat milk was “a heck of a lot better”, he says. As it was for land area required. Dairy requires around nine times more land than plant-based milks. It takes 70% less land to produce 1L of oat milk, compared to dairy.
Oats have been grown in Southland since the 1870s, with damp winters and long summer days making Southland and Otago particularly well suited to the crop.
So, a knock-out for oats? It’s not so simple. By current numbers, dairying is far more profitable for farmers than is growing oats. One report (commissioned by an oat milk company, no less) shows a full dairy farm system offers twice the return of the highest-earning crop growing model.
Take intensive dairying’s impact on Canterbury’s water. Latest research has found there’s insufficient rain or river water in Canterbury to dilute the nitrate pollution from dairy farming and ensure that groundwater is safe for drinking. According to the 2022 research, Canterbury’s groundwater and public drinking supplies are on track to be nearly double the allowable rate of nitrate contamination. That’s a problem because high nitrates damages waterways and has been linked to high rates of cancer in humans.
Factoring in travel miles, dairy is of course a total winner. But so are oats.
Callister decided he really wanted a milk that could be produced here, to support Kiwi farmers. New Zealand has a long history of growing oats. His great-grandfather grew oats, mostly to feed the farm horses. Making it is more problematic; some Kiwi oak milks are processed in Sweden. This is set to change with a processing plant planned for Southland.
And for the all important the taste factor, Callister tried all the plant milks, and once again, oat was the winner. For icecream, coconut came out tops.
“And that’s how I came to oat milk,” says Callister. “I enjoy it. It really hasn’t been a hardship.”
There’s one tiny exception: “It is a bit strange putting oat milk on my oat porridge. I occasionally sneak a small amount of milk cream, just as a special treat.”
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