Greenhouse gas emissions from global dairy production (original) (raw)
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Agricultural and Food Science
In order to respond to increasing global food demand and provide for national economic growth, the Estonian Dairy Strategy for 2012−2020 aims to achieve a 30% growth in milk production. At the same time, there is a global attempt to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This paper analyses the medium-term (2015−2020) projections for milk production and associated GHG emissions from dairy cows in Estonia. The FAPRI-GOLD type market model of Estonian agriculture, which is used for projections of agricultural production, was supplemented with a module that helps project GHG emissions. The paper demonstrates the endogenisation of GHG emission factors in a relatively general agricultural market model context. The results imply that increasing milk production by 30% by 2020 would jeopardise Estonia’s commitments with regard to agricultural GHG emissions. However, the average GHG emission per tonne of produced milk will decline, thus reducing the “carbon footprint” of milk production.
A simple carbon offset scenario tool (COST) for assessing dairy farm abatement options
Piantadosi, J., Anderssen, R.S. and Boland J. (eds) MODSIM2013, 20th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, 2013
The dairy Carbon Offset Scenario Tool (COST) was developed to explore the influence of various abatement strategies on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for Australian dairy farms. COST is a static spreadsheet-based tool that uses Australian GHG inventory methodologies, algorithms and emission factors to estimate carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions of a dairy farm system. One of the key differences between COST and other inventory-based dairy GHG emissions calculators is the ability to explore the effect of reducing total farm emissions on farm income, assuming the strategy was compliant with Kyoto rules for carbon offsets. COST provides ten abatement strategies across the four broad theme areas of diet manipulation, herd and breeding management, feedbase management and waste management. Each abatement strategy contains four sections; two sections for data entry (baseline farm data specific to the strategy explored and strategy-specific variables) and two sections for results (milk production results and GHG/economic-related results). Key sensitive variables for each strategy, identified from prior research, and prices for milk production and carbon offsets are adjusted through up/down buttons, which allows users to quickly explore the impact of these variables on farm emissions and profitability. For example, if the cost to implement an abatement strategy is doubled, what carbon offset income would be required to negate this additional cost? Results are presented as changes in carbon offset income, strategy implementation cost, additional milk production income and net farm income on a per annum and on a per GHG emissions intensity of milk production basis.
The role of non-CO2 mitigation options within the dairy industry for pursuing climate change targets
Environmental Research Letters
Mitigation of non-CO2 climate forcing agents must complement the mitigation of CO2 to achieve long-term temperature and climate policy goals. A large share of global non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions is attributed to agriculture, with a significant contribution related to dairy production. As demonstrated by the results of a recent USDA coordinated project, Dairy-CAP, dairy farmers can significantly reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by implementing beneficial management practices (BMPs). This study assesses the potential mitigation of projected climate change if greenhouse gases associated with the dairy subsector were reduced. To compare the performance of several mitigation measures under future climate change, we employ a fully coupled Earth system model of intermediate complexity, the MIT Earth System Model. With an interactive carbon-cycle, the model is capable of addressing important feedbacks between the climate and terrestrial biosphere impacting greenhouse gas concentrat...
Agricultural Systems, 2015
The study determines the extent to which ration selection can reduce GHG emissions in intensive dairy production systems. Replacing corn silage with alfalfa hay as the primary roughage component of dairy rations can lead to significant declines in GHG emissions from milk production in Ontario. Due to the higher soil organic matter of perennial forages, this change leads to the capture and storage of C in farm soils. Furthermore, alfalfa production requires less farm fieldwork and chemical inputs than corn which leads to a decline in emissions from energy consumption. The results suggest that feeding decisions have important implications for GHG emissions from intensive dairy production due to the wide variation in emissions for alternative crops that can be used in the ration. This is a notable finding, as much of the work on cost effective GHG mitigation in the dairy sector focuses on how this decision impacts enteric CH4. While our model estimates a decline in enteric CH4 resulting from the change in rations, this decline makes up only a small fraction of the total emission reductions. The ration decisions that lead to initial reductions in GHGs involve a small reduction in net farm returns but reductions beyond 5% impose a marginal abatement cost of about $550 Mg-1 CO2eq. Thus, reducing emissions by this amount through a carbon tax or market would not occur under current C prices suggesting that while intensive dairy production systems could contribute to policy efforts to reduce GHG emissions largely through cropping decisions, there may be more cost effective mitigation potential in other sectors.
Contribution of milk production to global greenhouse gas emissions
Environmental Science and Pollution Research
Background, aim and scope Studies on the contribution of milk production to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are rare (FAO 2010) and often based on crude data which do not appropriately reflect the heterogeneity of farming systems. This article estimates GHG emissions from milk production in different dairy regions of the world based on a harmonised farm data and assesses the contribution of milk production to global GHG emissions. Materials, methods and results The methodology comprises three elements: (1) the International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN) concept of typical farms and the related globally standardised dairy model farms representing 45 dairy regions in 38 countries; (2) a partial life cycle assessment model for estimating GHG emissions of the typical dairy farms; and (3) standard regression analysis to estimate GHG emissions from milk production in countries for which no typical farms are available in the IFCN database. Across the 117 typical farms in the 38 countries analysed, the average emission rate is 1.50 kg CO2 equivalents (CO2-eq.)/kg milk. The contribution of milk production to the global anthropogenic emissions is estimated at 1.3 Gt CO2-eq./year, accounting for 2.65% of total global anthropogenic emissions (49 Gt; IPCC, Synthesis Report for Policy Maker, Valencia, Spain, 2007). Discussion and conclusion We emphasise that our estimates of the contribution of milk production to global GHG emissions are subject to uncertainty. Part of the uncertainty stems from the choice of the appropriate methods for estimating emissions at the level of the individual animal.
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 2010
The aim of this study was to analyze various Austrian dairy production systems (PS) concerning their greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) in a life-cycle chain, including effects of land-use change (LUC). Models of eight PS that differ, on the one hand, in their regional location (alpine, uplands and lowlands) and, on the other hand, in their production method (conventional versus organic, including traditional and recently emerging pasture-based dairy farming) were designed. In general, the GHGE-reducing effect of a higher milk yield per cow and year in conventional dairy farming cannot compensate for the advantages of organic dairy production which requires lower inputs. This is shown both for GHGE per kg of milk and GHGE per ha and year of farmland. Especially when (imported) concentrates were fed, which had been grown on former forests or grassland, e.g. soybean meal and rapeseed cake, GHGE of conventional dairy farming rose due to the effects of LUC. GHGE per kg milk varied from 0.90 to 1.17 kg CO 2-eq for conventional PS, while organic PS on average emitted 11% less greenhouse gases (GHGs), the values ranging from 0.81 to 1.02 CO 2-eq per kg milk. Within each production method, PS with a higher milk output generally showed better results for GHGE per kg of milk produced than PS with a lower milk output. Nevertheless the latter showed clearly better results for GHGE per ha of land used, ranging from 5.2 to 7.6 Mg CO 2-eq per ha and year for conventional PS and from 4.2 to 6.2 Mg CO 2-eq per ha and year for organic PS. The results of this study emphasize the importance of a complete life-cycle assessment in the evaluation of impacts that dairy PS have on the climate.
Agricultural Systems, 2015
New Zealand dairy farms are responsible for a large proportion of this nation's greenhouse gas emissions (GHG-e), arising mainly from enteric methane and urinary nitrogen deposition on pasture. Deintensification and the use of specific mitigation strategies can reduce GHG-e from dairy farms, but are generally costly. In this study, a farm-level model is used to analyse the cost of GHG-e mitigation strategies in medium-(10-20% imported feed) and high-input (20-40% imported feed) systems in the two major dairy regions of New Zealand (Waikato and Canterbury). Production intensity is measured solely in terms of feed importation, in accordance with standard practice in this nation. The focus of the study is to assess the cost-effectiveness of a variety of de-intensification and mitigation strategies aimed at reducing the negative impact of emissions constraints (reductions of 10, 20, and 30%) on farm profit. Deintensification options include changes in stocking rate, nitrogen fertiliser application, and supplement quantity. Mitigation options include feeding crops, improved reproductive management, use of feed pads, use of stand-off pads, and use of nitrification inhibitors. The model showed that a combination of reduced N fertiliser application and lower stocking rates were the larger changes experienced in the systems studied when GHG-e reductions were introduced. Nitrification inhibitors were only useful for mitigation once the GHG-e reductions required were so stringent that their cost was warranted to offset the significant costs associated with de-intensification in the high-input systems. Stand-off and feed pads were too expensive to warrant their use when not already available. Overall, de-intensification of the farming system proved to be more profitable than the use of specific mitigation practices when reduction of GHG-e was required. Maintaining a given intake of imported feed reduces the degree to which de-intensification may be used for abatement, thus inflating the cost of mitigation strategies on high-input farms.
Animal Feed Science and Technology, 2011
The strategy for New Zealand dairy farming (DairyNZ, 2009) formulates targets for increased national milk production and a reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but acknowledges these two targets conflict because GHG typically increase with increased milk output. Our objective was to determine if both targets could be achieved by implementing combinations of five mitigations. A farm scale computer model, which includes a mechanistic cow model, was used to model a typical pasture based New Zealand dairy farm as the baseline farm. The five mitigations were: (1) improved reproductive performance of the herd resulting in lower replacement rates, (2) increased genetic merit of the cows combined with lower stocking rate and longer lactations, (3) keeping lactating cows on a loafing pad for 12 h/day for 2 mo during autumn, (4) growing low protein crops of grains and/or silages of maize, barley and oats on a portion of the farm and feeding this to lactating cows, (5) reducing fertilizer N use and replacing some of this with nitrification inhibitors and the plant growth stimulant gibberellins. No single mitigation strategy achieved both targets of increasing production by 10-15% and reducing GHG emissions by 20%, but when all were simultaneously implemented in the baseline farm, milk production increased by 15-20% to 1200 kg milk fat + protein/ha, and absolute GHG emissions decreased by 15-20% to 0.8 kg CO 2-equivalents (CO 2-e)/kg fat and protein corrected milk (FPCM), which is equivalent to a decrease from 11.7 to 8.2 kg CO 2-e/kg fat + protein. The synergies of the mitigations resulted in reduced dry matter intake and enteric CH 4 emissions, a reduction in N input and N dilution in feed, and, therefore, reduced urinary N excretion onto pastures, and an increase in feed conversion efficiency (i.e., more feed was used for production and less for maintenance). Mechanistic CH 4 models as part of farm scale models are important because current GHG inventory methodology cannot properly evaluate CH 4 emissions for a range of potential mitigation strategies. There is also a need to develop capabilities in farm scale models to accurately simulate urine patches and N 2 O emissions from these patches.