Abstract
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 of the impacts’ categories. The allocation of culled cows decreased the impacts of the CON and particularly those of the ORG farms when the mass mode was adopted. HQ showed values similar to the results without allocation. Overall, the objective of identifying a “marker” of undesirable products, estimated by the culling rate, was partially achieved.
Highlights
The main greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions attributed by the International Panel of Climate Changes (IPCC) to the agricultural sector are methane (CH4 ) and nitrous oxide (N2 O)
Despite global warming potential (GWP) being the most significant contributor affecting GHG emissions, other impact categories are implied by the life cycle assessment (LCA) criteria, e.g., eutrophication, acidification, land use, or land occupation
The LCA methodology, in compliance with the principles established by ISO standards [24,25] and the carbon footprint guidelines defined by Fédération Internationale du
Summary
The main greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions attributed by the International Panel of Climate Changes (IPCC) to the agricultural sector are methane (CH4 ) and nitrous oxide (N2 O). Animal enterprises are responsible for the production of GHG in the form of CH4 from enteric fermentations (EF), N2 O deriving from nitrogenous fertilizers, and CH4 and. In Europe, within the animal production sector, dairy milk production shows the highest environmental impact in terms of GHG emissions (28–30%), along with beef (28–29%) and pork production (25–29%) [2]. The primary product of the dairy farms is milk, whose yield has rapidly expanded during the last decades, in developing countries. Health and biological functioning of dairy cattle are often prioritized, recognized as remarkable physiological and metabolic adaptations in dairy cows, essential for good reproductive and productive performances [3,4]. Alexandratos and Bruinsma [5] suggested that milk consumption is expected to
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