Life cycle assessment of pasture-based dairy production systems: Current and future performance

To overcome the environmental challenges faced by the global agricultural sector while also ensuring economic viability, dairy farmers must improve the efficiency of their systems. To improve system efficiency, the performance of an average production system must be determined, as it establishes a benchmark from which the efficacy of proposed management practices and mitigation strategies can be assessed. Identified management practices and mitigation strategies can then be compiled to create ambitious but realistic targets for the sector to strive toward. Therefore the objective of this study was to calculate the environmental performance of an average spring-calving pasture-based dairy system and an ambitious target dairy system. Life cycle assessment (LCA) of 2 pasture-based dairy systems were conducted: (1) current average spring-calving pasture-based dairy system (current), and (2) a spring-calving pasture-based dairy system that has achieved key performance targets set by the most efficient dairy systems (target). An existing dairy LCA model was updated with country-specific emission factors, life cycle inventory data, and recommended methodologies. The environmental impact categories assessed were global warming potential, nonrenewable energy depletion, acidification potential, and eutrophication potential (marine and freshwater). Two functional units were used: per kilogram of fat- and protein-corrected milk (FPCM), and per hectare. To assess the effects of the model updates, the current dairy system was simulated twice, once with the previous version of the dairy LCA model, and second with the updated LCA model. The addition of country-specific emission factors, updated inventory data, and implementation of recommended methods has resulted in global warming potential and nonrenewable energy depletion being reduced by 10.4% and 10.9%, respectively. The updates had negligible effects on acidification and eutrophication potential. The inclusion of assumptions around carbon sequestration in grassland further reduced global warming potential by 16.4%. Moving from the current dairy system to the target dairy system was reported to reduce the environmental impact per kilogram of FPCM across all impact categories investigated. When expressed per hectare, transitioning toward the target dairy system reduced acidification, freshwater eutrophication, and nonrenewable energy depletion by 2.0%, 8.8%, and 13.8%, respectively. In contrast, transitioning toward the target dairy system increased global warming per hectare and, to a lesser degree, marine eutrophication potential per hectare. The increase in global warming and marine eutrophication potential per hectare was attributed to the increase in stocking rate and subsequently milk production per hectare (9,950 vs. 14,100 kg of FPCM/ha). This study demonstrates that the adoption of management practices that improve system efficiency will reduce the environmental impact per kilogram of FPCM and can contribute to the future sustainability of pasture-based dairy systems. However, improved system efficiency can be offset by the associated increase in productivity, highlighting the importance of reporting multiple environmental impact categories and functional units to prevent pollution swapping. New research and mitigation strategies will be required to improve the environmental sustainability of dairy systems beyond the target system in the future.