In just a few weeks, Bovaer has gone from being one of agriculture's most important climate measures to a substance that milk producers are now opting out of. The chairman of the National Association of Danish Milk Producers, Kjartan Poulsen, estimates that "almost 100 percent will stop using the substance" after the new clarification from the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration, which gives farmers ample opportunities to exempt their cows from the legal requirement.

But when dairy farmers stop using Bovaer, the expected climate impact will also disappear from agriculture's climate accounts. A full 400.000 tons of CO₂ reduction in the green tripartite agreement comes from methane-reducing feed additives, and that figure will now apparently have to be waved goodbye.

The editor-in-chief of Maskinbladet, Rasmus Dalsgaard, calls it in a leader a “scandal” and “… one-eyed haste in the holy name of the climate”.

Agricultural organizations have put Bovaer in the spotlight as a technological fix with a quick and measurable effect on methane emissions. But the reality in the barns tells a different story. Many farmers have experienced dairy cows with reduced appetite, falling milk yield, metabolic-like problems and in some cases collapse. This was exactly what experts – and the Danish Animal Welfare Association – had already warned about before the legal requirement was passed.

Now green organizations stand side by side with milk producers to raise awareness about the legal requirement.

When farmers are now stopping Bova on a large scale, it is not because they are reluctant to take action on climate change. It is because the animals are paying the price. But the question is how the government is now going to find the big CO₂-reductions?

Fortunately, it's not so bad that it's not good for anything. With Bovaer, agriculture was given the opportunity to do more. business as usual, because it could supposedly reduce the cow's methane emissions by up to 27 percent. On the other hand, it would also be moving down a path that does not lead to climate neutrality. Simply because there is no incentive to reduce the number of animals.

The industry is quick to say that the number of cows is decreasing year by year. And it is true that we have had slightly fewer cows, but the decrease is nowhere near enough. We need a significant decrease if it is to make a real difference in methane emissions.

Denmark needs climate measures that are both responsible and sustainable, and that do not compromise animal welfare. Bovaer was not the miracle cure that people had hoped for, so let's use measures that work. We must let the cow be a cow that eats grass and chews cud.

We don't need to change the cow, but change the entire system around it. To a system where the animals contribute to a positive eco- and food system.

This opinion piece was published in Jyllandsposten on December 13, 2025, and was written by Britta Riis, Animal Protection, Maria Reumert Gjerding, Danish Nature Conservation Society, Jeppe Juul, Green Transition Denmark & Christian Fromberg, Greenpeace.