LCA to Estimate the Environmental Impact of Dairy Farms: A Case Study (original) (raw)
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Journal of Environmental Management, 2009
This paper describes and applies EDEN-E, an operational method for the environmental evaluation of dairy farms based on the life cycle assessment (LCA) conceptual framework. EDEN-E requires a modest amount of data readily available on-farm, and thus can be used to assess a large number of farms at a reasonable cost. EDEN-E estimates farm resource use and pollutant emissions mostly at the farm scale, based on-farm-gate balances, amongst others. Resource use and emissions are interpreted in terms of potential impacts: eutrophication, acidification, climate change, terrestrial toxicity, non-renewable energy use and land occupation. The method distinguishes for each total impact a direct component (impacts on the farm site) and an indirect component (impacts associated with production and supply of inputs used). A group of 47 dairy farms (41 conventional and six organic) was evaluated. Expressed per 1000 kg of fat-and-protein-corrected milk, total land occupation was significantly larger for organic than for conventional farms, while total impacts for eutrophication, acidification, climate change, terrestrial toxicity, and non-renewable energy use were not significantly different for the two production modes. When expressed per ha of land occupied all total impacts were significantly larger for conventional than organic farms. This study largely confirms previously published findings concerning the effect of production mode on impacts of dairy farms. However, it strikingly reveals that, for the set of farms examined, the contribution of production mode to overall inter-farm variability of impacts was minor relative to inter-farm variability within each of the two production modes examined. The mapping of impact variability through EDEN-E opens promising perspectives to move towards sustainable farming systems by identifying the structural and management characteristics of the farms presenting the lowest impacts.
Sustainability, 2021
In this study, the life cycle assessment (LCA) principle was performed to estimate the environmental impact of three dairy farms that operate using different farming systems, namely, conventional (CON), organic (ORG), and high-quality (HQ) modes. In Italy, the typical style of high-quality (HQ) farming is commonly included in the conventional system but is more strictly regulated by the Decree of the Italian Ministry of Health N° 185/1991. Although the farms are not fully representative of each conduct, they showed intrinsic peculiarities, e.g., the cow-culling rate of each system. This rate requires a quantification as it may be related to loss of income. Allocation criteria were applied to attribute the quantities of pollutants to the co-products: wheat, involved in the congruence and number of cows culled, the latter being undesirable and therefore necessary to quantify. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) highlighted that the no-dairy products significantly mitigated (p < 0.05) some...
2014
In this paper, we evaluate the potential of life cycle assessment (LCA) to support environmental decision making at commercial dairy farms. To achieve this, we follow a four-step method that allows converting environmental assessment results using LCA into case-specific advice for farmers. This is illustrated in a case-study involving 20 specialized Flemish dairy farms. Calculated LCA indicators are normalized into scores between 0 and 100, whereby a score of 100 is assumed optimal, to allow for a mutual comparison of indicators for different environmental impact categories. Next, major farm and management characteristics affecting environmental performance are identified using multiple regression and correlation analyses. Finally, comparing specific farm and management characteristics with those of best performing farms identifies farm-specific optimization strategies. We conclude that this approach complies with most of the identified critical success factors for the successful implementation of LCA as a decision support system for farmers. Key aspects herein are (i) the flexibility and accessibility of the model, (ii) the use of readily available farm data, (iii) farm advisors being intended model users, (iv) the identification of key farm and management characteristics affecting environmental performance and (v) the organization of discussion sessions involving farmers and farm advisors. However, attention should be paid (i) to provide sufficient training and guidance for farm advisors on the use of the applied LCA model and the interpretation of results, (ii) to evaluate the correctness of the used data and (iii) to keep the model up-to-date according to new scientific insights and knowledge concerning LCA methodology.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Conventional and Organic Milk Production
Following the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, this study aims to assess and compare the environmental impact of milk production of some conventional and organic farms located in the Molise region (Italy). The considered system was defined by the entire life cycle of cows (from birth and growth, to milk production) including the agricultural processes of feedstuffs. The functional unit was defined as one kg of energy corrected milk (ECM) at the farm gate. Data on conventional farms concern two cases: case A, with two different sequential cow’s diets (Conv. A1 and A2), and case B (Conv. B). For the organic farms, data supplied by Org. A1 (study case) are compared with literature data on Org. A2. Results showed Conv. B as the most environment affecting farm and this can be mainly ascribed to the management of feeds and diets of lactating cows. The use of commercial mixed feeds had the largest impact on all conventional farms. Moreover, the Org. A2 had the best performance in t...
Life Cycle Assessment of Dairy Production Systems in Waikato , New Zealand
2016
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a standardised approach to evaluate resource use and environmental emissions of a production system or product. It covers multiple stages, including raw material extraction, production of farm inputs and farm emissions (i.e. cradleto-farm-gate stages), and can extend to milk processing, transport, consumer use and waste. LCA has been applied in agriculture over the past decade to examine the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with products such as milk. More recently it has been applied in assessing a range of environmental emissions. For example, the current European Product Environmental Footprinting initiative covers multiple environmental impact categories. This paper reports on studies using LCA to evaluate effects of dairy intensification in the Waikato region of New Zealand (NZ; using DairyNZ DairyBase farm survey data) covering cradle-to-farm-gate stages. Initial focus was on the carbon footprint of milk (total GHG emissions) and t...
11th European IFSA Symposium, Farming Systems Facing Global Challenges: Capacities and Strategies, Proceedings, Berlin, Germany, 1-4 April 2014, 2014
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is the accepted approach to simulate and compare carbon footprint (CF) of milk. The objective of this study was to apply LCA to compare CF of high performance confinement and grass-based dairy farms. Physical performance data from research herds were used to quantify CF of a high performance Irish grass-based dairy system and a top performing UK confinement dairy system. For the USA confinement dairy system, data from the top 5% of herds of a national database were used. Life cycle assessment was applied using the same dairy farm greenhouse gas (GHG) model for all systems. The model estimated all on and off-farm GHG sources associated with dairy production until milk is sold from the farm in kg of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO 2-eq) and allocated emissions between milk and meat. The CF of milk was calculated by expressing GHG emissions attributed to milk per t of energy corrected milk (ECM). The comparison showed the CF of milk from the Irish grass-based system (837 kg of CO 2-eq/t of ECM) was 5% lower than the UK confinement system (884 kg of CO 2-eq/t of ECM) and 7% lower than the USA confinement system (898 kg of CO 2-eq/t of ECM) when no GHG emissions were allocated to meat. However, without grassland carbon sequestration, the grass-based and confinement dairy systems had similar CF per t of ECM. Additionally, using different emission algorithms or methods to allocate GHG emissions between milk and meat affected the relative difference and order of dairy system CF. This indicates that further harmonization of several aspects of the LCA methodology is required to compare CF of divergent dairy systems. Relative to recent reports that assess the CF of milk from average Irish, UK and USA dairy systems, this case study indicates that top performing herds of the respective nations have CF about 30% lower than average systems. Although, differences between studies are partly explained by methodological inconsistency, the comparison suggests that there is potential to reduce the CF of milk in each of the nations by implementing practices that improve productivity.
An evaluation of life cycle assessment of European milk production
Journal of Environmental Management, 2011
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method regulated by ISO that conveys the environmental impact of products. LCA studies of the same product should be comparable to benefit environmental policy making. LCA of milk production has evaluated environmental issues such as greenhouse gas emissions, resource utilisation and land use change. Thirteen LCA studies of European milk production were analysed for comparability, and direct comparison was difficult due to technical issues, arbitrary choices and inconsistent assumptions. The strengths and weaknesses of LCA for evaluating an agricultural system are identified and improvements for comparability of future studies are also considered. Future LCA of milk production should ensure that: (1) the production system is appropriately characterized according to the goal of study; (2) a clear description of the system boundary and allocation procedures is provided according to ISO standards; (3) a common functional unit, probably Energy Corrected Milk, should be used or assumed fat and protein content presented to enable comparisons; (4) where appropriate, sitespecific emission factors and characterization factors should be used in environmental hotspots (e.g. manure management, spreading of synthetic fertilzier, production of purchased feed), and phosphorous loss should be better addressed; (5) a range of impact categories including climate change, energy use, land use, acidification and eutrophication should be used to assess pollution swapping, all of which are subject to national or regional directives; perhaps in the future biodiversity should also be included; and (6) the sensitivity to choices of methods and uncertainty of final results should be evaluated.
Agricultural Systems, 2017
The aim of the study was to explore whether and how intensification would contribute to more environmentally friendly dairy production in Norway. Three typical farms were envisaged, representing intensive production strategies with regard to milk yield both per cow and per hectare in the three most important regions for dairy production in Norway. The scores on six impact categories for produced milk and meat were compared with corresponding scores obtained with a medium production intensity at a base case farm. Further, six scenario farms were derived from the base case. They were either intensified or made more extensive with regard to management practices that were likely to be varied and implemented under northern temperate conditions. The practices covered the proportion and composition of concentrates in animal diets and the production and feeding of forages with different energy concentration. Processes from cradle to farm gate were incorporated in the assessments, including on-farm activities, capital goods, machinery and production inputs. Compared to milk produced in a base case with an annual yield of 7250 kg energy corrected milk (ECM) per cow, milk from farms with yields of 9000 kg ECM or higher, scored better in terms of global warming potential (GWP). The milk from intensive farms scored more favourably also for terrestrial acidification (TA), fossil depletion (FD) and freshwater eutrophication (FE). However, this was not in all Highlights Environmental impacts from milk production were lowest on farms with high yield per animal High yields of energy-rich forage on intensive farms contributed to lower impacts The proportion of concentrates in the diet per se was not important for the global warming potential
The carbon footprint of dairy production systems through partial life cycle assessment
Journal of dairy science, 2010
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and their potential effect on the environment has become an important national and international issue. Dairy production, along with all other types of animal agriculture, is a recognized source of GHG emissions, but little information exists on the net emissions from dairy farms. Component models for predicting all important sources and sinks of CH 4 , N 2 O, and CO 2 from primary and secondary sources in dairy production were integrated in a software tool called the Dairy Greenhouse Gas model, or DairyGHG. This tool calculates the carbon footprint of a dairy production system as the net exchange of all GHG in CO 2 equivalent units per unit of energy-corrected milk produced. Primary emission sources include enteric fermentation, manure, cropland used in feed production, and the combustion of fuel in machinery used to produce feed and handle manure. Secondary emissions are those occurring during the production of resources used on the farm, which can include fuel, electricity, machinery, fertilizer, pesticides, plastic, and purchased replacement animals. A longterm C balance is assumed for the production system, which does not account for potential depletion or sequestration of soil carbon. An evaluation of dairy farms of various sizes and production strategies gave carbon footprints of 0.37 to 0.69 kg of CO 2 equivalent units/ kg of energy-corrected milk, depending upon milk production level and the feeding and manure handling strategies used. In a comparison with previous studies, DairyGHG predicted C footprints similar to those reported when similar assumptions were made for feeding strategy, milk production, allocation method between milk and animal coproducts, and sources of CO 2 and secondary emissions. DairyGHG provides a relatively simple tool for evaluating management effects on net GHG emissions and the overall carbon footprint of dairy production systems. Figure 1. Primary and secondary emission sources and sinks for a partial life cycle assessment of the carbon footprint of dairy production systems.
Life Cycle Assessment Modeling of Milk Production in Iran
Information Processing in Agriculture, 2015
Environmental impact Global warming A B S T R A C T Livestock units are known as one of the most influential sectors in the environment pollution. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the environmental impacts of milk production in Guilan province of Iran through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology.