Welcome to the SmartDairy Blog
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New R&D funding for Finnish climate-smart dairy solutions
By: Iida Alasentie and Silvia Gaiani, University of Helsinki Ruralia Institute The climate conditions in Finland and other Nordic countries are known to be challenging due to the change of seasons and short-lasting summers. When the growing season of different crops is somewhere between 125 and 180 days, it influences the structure of Finnish farming.…
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Busting milk myths shakes the Finns’ national identity
Taru Lindblom, Vilja Lukkarinen and Sami Koponen This blog post explores the cultural role of dairy products and the Finns’ strong relationship with milk by looking at an empirical case of heated online debate sparked by an oat milk company Oatly’s campaign. The campaign was launched in late 2020 in Finland by sending a leaflet…
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Insights from UK Smart Dairy Consumer Experiments
Walter Kiptoo Kiplagat and Annemie Maertens Between June and November 2023, the UK Smart Dairy project team ran a series of fascinating consumer experiments at the University of Sussex’s behavioral laboratory. Our mission: to delve into the minds of dairy consumers in the UK, tapping into their preferences, values, knowledge on smart dairy technologies, and…
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News from a conference session on the position of animal- and plant-based foods in food systems
Mari Niva, Iida Alasentie, Silvia Gaiani and Sami Koponen In Finland, the most active forum for researchers focusing on environmental issues from a social science perspective is the Finnish Society for Environmental Social Science (YHYS). One of the yearly activities of the society is the YHYS Colloquium, an international scientific meeting bringing together practitioners and…
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SmartDairy Midterm Project Meeting
Julian Worley In October, the SmartDairy team convened in Bologna, Italy, to review the project’s progress, upcoming tasks, and future events. Hosted by the Italian research team, this meeting brought together representatives from all four country teams. The meeting began with introductions as it was the first time some researchers had met in person since…
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Climate Change Mitigation along the Food Supply Chain
Fabio Bartolini Dairy production is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and there is an urgent need to reduce emissions from this sector. Identifying potential mitigation options and the trajectory of diary system transformation is at the top of policy and academic debates. It was discussed among the agricultural economist communities during…
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