Economic aspects of energy efficiency in Ukrainian agricultural enterprises` dairy farming

Abstract

It was established that material and technical support of milk production process in agricultural enterprises is an important reserve for increasing economic stability on the basis of creation of high-tech and energy-efficient production management system. The directions of innovative provision of technological processes in dairy farming are outlined: forage conservation; keeping and feeding animals; creation of farms with waste heat utilization, mechanized feeding, milking, waste management (robotic farms); computerization of milk production accounting processes and the prediction of the genetic value of animals; milk quality control by means of electronic means for testing of fat and protein content in milk; systems of cooling and milk storage. It has been proved that energy expenditure in dairy farming depends on a large number of factors, in particular the methods of keeping farm animals and their productivity, the level of mechanization and automation of technological processes on the farm, etc. It is established that in determining the energy costs, energy expenditure is taken into account only for individual, often final, technological operations, resulting in an assessment of the efficiency of milk production that is incomplete, which does not allow to objectively determine the efficiency of technological solutions. Summarizing the aforementioned, it will be grounded that the reduction of energy consumption in the milk production is possible not only on the basis of technical re-equipment of equipment, reconstruction and replacement on the new, but also due to the formation of rational consumer behavior and the development of a sound management policy for the use of energy resources at all stages of production dairy products. It is proposed to create at the agricultural enterprises an appropriate unit for ensuring energy efficiency and the appointment of a manager. Moreover, the responsibility of the manager should be clearly regulated and controlled by the business owners to fulfill all the requirements of energy saving, which should result in the reduction of energy consumption. It is proved that the reduction of energy consumption for milk production is achieved on the basis of providing the microclimate by utilizing the heat that is in the air and is removed from the premises. Key words: dairy farming, agricultural enterprise, energy efficiency, energy resources, energy management.