The Sustainability of a Dairy Cattle System in the Internal Area of <i>Marmo Platano</i>, Basilicata Region, Italy
2025
Andrea Bragaglio | Gerardo Luigi Marolda | Daniel Mota-Rojas | Salvatore Claps | Gennaro Mecca | Elio Romano | Maurizio Cutini | Lucia Sepe
Some studies have shown that intensification improves the sustainability of bovine milk; however, this matter is controversial. The present study, performed in Southern Italy, in the Basilicata region, focuses on nine specialized dairy farms of the <i>Marmo Platano</i> internal area. These farms are characterized by a “low intensification profile”, and we estimated the sustainability of the <i>Marmo Platano</i> dairy system via life-cycle assessment using specific software. We chose 1 kg of refrigerated raw milk as the functional unit and four impact categories: global warming potential, non-renewable energy use, fossil depletion, and agricultural land occupation. All impact category values fell within the ranges in the bibliography. Economic allocation, a criterion led by the market value of milk and culled cows (and their ratio), significantly (<i>p</i> < 0.05) affected the global warming potential and agricultural land occupation of two farms (1.38 kg CO<sub>2</sub> eq and 2.48 m<sup>2</sup>y<sup>−1</sup> as the system mean), while it did not affect the fossil depletion of the entire system, i.e., 138 g of oil as the mean. After allocation, the system showed three different profiles (<i>p</i> < 0.05) of non-renewable energy use (average value 6.31 MJ), despite its closeness with fossil depletion. Despite the aptness of <i>Marmo Platano</i>, the animals are not grazed, whereas full barn housing ensures satisfactory milk yields. Mainly driven by its low input characteristics, implying a low culling rate, the system proved to be sustainable.
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