Draynes Farm targets sustainable growth with net zero milk and ice cream

As a multi-disciplinary environmental services provider, Adler and Allan has been supporting local businesses to become more sustainable and capitalise on new commercial opportunities.

Among the firms to recently benefit from A&A’s expertise is Draynes Farm – a family-run dairy company that has been operating for more than 90 years, producing awardwinning products to clients across Ireland, including an ever-growing inventory of famous ice cream.

Adler & Allan worked with Draynes Farm to map out where their emissions come from – whether it was via their business supply chain or operations on the dairy farm, including the enteric emissions from their cows (or, in other words, the methane produced during flatulence).

With the recent installation of a large solar photovoltaic (PV) array on their cattle sheds, renewable energy is now helping to power the production facility located on farm.

Robotic milking, pasteurisation, refrigeration and bottling processes are now, in part, run on clean energy generated only yards away.

The materials used in product packaging were also included in the assessment. By adopting more recycled plastic content in their milk bottles and ice cream tubs, the emissions associated with packaging products will also be reduced.

Draynes use their own fleet of vans to deliver milk and ice cream directly to local businesses across Ireland. Adler & Allan supported the business to assess carbon savings resulting from their modern and more efficient fleet and set out a strategy for transitioning to zero emission vehicles in the future.

Finally, with their own farmland, the company is exploring ways to continually enhance nature and biodiversity, using regenerative farming techniques and planting trees and hedgerow to absorb more carbon emissions from the atmosphere.

All these actions are helping Draynes Farm initially to reduce consumption and running costs, decarbonise its operations and balance emissions through nature-based solutions while capitalising on new growth opportunities driven by changing consumer trends towards sustainable local produce.

Owen Drayne, of Draynes Farm, said: “Our goal is to provide fresh, ethical, sustainable products for our customers. Our partnership with A&A allowed us to look at ourselves and our own supply chain in detail to understand where our impacts are and develop new innovative solutions to work towards offering net zero milk and ice cream.”

Jonathan Devine, client relationship manager for Adler & Allan Ireland said: “Net zero presents a huge challenge to business, but it is also a great opportunity. The changing regulatory landscape and consumer awareness of environmental issues means that businesses can no longer simply say they are sustainable – they need to live it. Those businesses showing authentic progress towards to net zero will set themselves apart from those which are not.”

Adler & Allan’s environmental consultants are based across Ireland and have expertise in multiple sectors.

If you’re looking to reduce environmental risk in your business or require support with an environmental issue, we are here to help.

For more information, please visit www.adlerandallan.co.uk, or contact Jonathan Devine (client relationship manager – Ireland) at Jonathan.devine@adlerandallan.co.uk

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