Environmental assessment of United States dairy farms

JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION

卷:315

Article

Rotz, Alan¹  Stout, Robert¹  Leytem, April²  Feyereisen, Gary³  Waldrip, Heidi⁴  Thoma, Greg⁵  Holly, Michael⁶  Bjorneberg, David²  Baker, John³  Vadas, Peter⁷  Kleinman, Peter⁸ 

[1] ARS, USDA, Pasture Syst & Watershed Management Res Unit, University Pk, PA 16802 USA

[2] ARS, USDA, Northwest Irrigat & Soils Res Lab, Kimberly, ID USA

[3] ARS, USDA, Soil & Water Management Unit, St Paul, MN 55108 USA

[4] ARS, USDA, Conservat & Prod Res Lab, Bushland, TX 79012 USA

[5] Univ Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701 USA

[6] Univ Wisconsin Green Bay, Green Bay, WI 54311 USA

[7] ARS, USDA, Off Natl Programs, Beltsville, MD 20705 USA

[8] ARS, USDA, Soil Management & Sugarbeet Res Unit, Ft Collins, CO 80526 USA

关键词: Dairy production;    Life cycle assessment;    Footprint;    Greenhouse gas;    Ammonia;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128153

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Dairy farms in the United States are diverse and although regional dairy production and farm strategy has been evaluated for environmental impact, a comprehensive national assessment is important to define national priorities for sustainable intensification. We estimated important environmental footprints of dairy production using process-level simulation and cradle-to-farm gate life cycle assessment. Dairy farms representing the sizes and management practices found in six regions were simulated with the Integrated Farm System Model (IFSM). Regional and national environmental footprints were determined as an average of all simulated farms weighted by the portion of milk contributed by each to the total. Nationally, dairy farms were found to emit 99,000 +/- 8480 Gg CO2e of greenhouse gas (GHG), equivalent to 1.5% of the estimated U.S. total GHG emission, with a commodity-based intensity of 1.01 +/- 0.09 kg CO2e/kg of fat and protein corrected milk (FPCM) produced. Fossil energy use was 242,700 +/- 38,400 TJ, 0.3% of the U.S. total, or 2.48 +/- 0.39 MJ/kg FPCM. Blue (non-precipitation) water use was 11,600 +/- 2480 Tg, roughly 3.0% of the estimated U.S. total freshwater withdraw, with an intensity of 119 +/- 25 kg/kg FPCM. While these environmental footprints represent a small portion of the respective national inventories, the dairy industry's contribution to reactive nitrogen (N) losses appears to be considerably greater. Losses of reactive N were estimated at 970 +/- 133 Gg, with an intensity of 9.92 +/- 1.36 g/kg FPCM where 66% of the total was in the form of ammonia (NH3). Although there are no national estimates of total reactive N loss, dairy farms were found to contribute 19-24% of national inventories of NH3 emissions. While strategies are available to reduce NH3 emissions, finding economical and sustainable solutions that do not result in pollution swapping remains a challenge for the dairy industry.

【 授权许可】

Free