Sustainable production of dairy farm systems

Sustainability of dairy farm production systems can be measured by the intersection between profitability and environmental stewardship. It is clear that unprofitable farms are destined to go out of business. Similarly, although not as evident, farms that are not efficient in the use of input resources, having higher wastages, and consequently producing more emissions, are likely to be un-sustained in the long run. Dairy farm production systems need to remain profitable and at the same time environmental compliant to be sustainable. In simple terms, environmental efficiency or environmental compliance refers to the balance of nutrients used for production purposes. Using more of the input resources in effective production, and consequently having fewer emissions, distinguishes the most efficient systems. Several nutrients or compounds are of environmental interest: for example greenhouse gasses (GHG) because of global warming potential, P because of surface water eutrophication issues, or N because of groundwater contamination problems. This study deals specifically on the joint between greenhouse gasses emissions and profitability for 3 distinctive dairy farm production systems in Wisconsin – conventional, grazing, and organic; and it is an adaptation of Dutreuil et al. (2014) study.