Skip to main content

Carbon footprints of organic dairying in six European countries—real farm data analysis

Organic Agriculture volume 5, pages 91–100 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

Dairy farming is the largest agricultural contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. In this study, the carbon footprint of organic dairying was evaluated by means of a life cycle assessment, based on real farm data from six European countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Italy and United Kingdom. A total of 34 farms were analysed. The assessment was carried out using an attributional approach with system boundaries from cradle to farm gate. In relation to dairy production, a functional unit of 1 kg of energy corrected milk was used. The results gave an average of 1.32 kg CO2 equivalents per kilogramme of energy-corrected milk with standard deviation of 0.22, which is consistent with recent studies. The main contributor to this is enteric fermentation from producing animals, resulting in 45 % of total GHG emissions, which is also consistent with previous studies.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price includes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

References

  • Belflower JB, Bernard JK, Gattie DK, Hancock DW, Risse LM, Alan Rotz C (2012) A case study of the potential environmental impacts of different dairy production systems in Georgia. Agric Syst 108:84–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casey JW, Holden NM (2005) Analysis of greenhouse gas emissions from the average Irish milk production system. Agric Syst 86:97–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cederberg C, Mattsson B (2000) Life cycle assessment of milk production—a comparison of conventional and organic farming. J Clean Prod 8:49–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dalgaard R, Schmidt J, Flysjö A (2014) Generic model for calculating carbon footprint of milk using four different life cycle assessment modelling approaches. J Clean Prod 73:146–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Boer I (2003) Environmental impact assessment of conventional and organic milk production. Livest Prod Sci 80:69–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dockès AC, Tisenkopfs T, Bock BB (2012) The concept of agricultural knowledge and innovation systems. Chapter 3 In EU SCAR-(2012), p 23–39

  • Ecoinvent (2007) Ecoinvent data v2.2. Final reports Ecoinvent v2.2 No. 1–25. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, Dübendorf

    Google Scholar 

  • European Communities (2007) Council Regulation (EC) No. 834/2007 of 28 June 2007 on organic production and labelling of organic products and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91. Off J Eur Commun 20.7.2007. Brussels. L189/1, 1–23

  • Finnveden G, Hauschild MZ, Ekvall T, Guinee JB, Heijungs R, Hellweg S, Koehler A, Pennington D, Suh S (2009) Recent developments in life cycle assessment. J Environ Manage 91:1–21

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Flysjö A, Cederberg C, Henriksson M, Ledgard S (2012) The interaction between milk and beef production and emissions from land use change—critical considerations in life cycle assessment and carbon footprint studies of milk. J Clean Prod 28:134–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forster P, Ramaswamy V, Artaxo P, Berntsen T, Betts R, Fahey DW, Haywood J, Lean J, Lowe DC, Myhre G, Nganga J, Prinn R, Raga G, Schulz M, Van Dorland R (2007) Changes in atmospheric constituents and in radiative forcing. In: Solomon S, Qin D, Manning M, Chen Z, Marquis M, Averyt KB, Tignor M, Miller HL (eds) Climate Change 2007: the physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Freibauer A, Rounsevell MD, Smith P, Verhagen J (2004) Carbon sequestration in the agricultural soils of Europe. Geoderma 122(1):1–23

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gerber PJ, Steinfeld H, Henderson B, Mottet A, Opio C, Dijkman J, Falcucci A, Tempio G (2013) Tackling climate change through livestock—a global assessment of emissions and mitigation opportunities. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerrard CL, Smith LG, Pearce B, Padel S, Hitchings R, Measures M, Cooper N (2012) In: Lichtfouse E (ed) Public goods and farming for food and water security. Springer, Netherlands, pp 1–22

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Guerci M, Knudsen MT, Bava L, Zucali M, Schönbach P, Kristensen T (2013) Parameters affecting the environmental impact of a range of dairy farming systems in Denmark, Germany and Italy. J Clean Prod 54:133–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guinée JB, Gorrée M, Heijungs R, Huppes G, Kleijn R, Koning A, de Oers L, van Wegener Sleeswijk A, Suh S, Udo de Haes HA, de Bruijn H, van Duin R, Huijbregts MAJ, Lindeijer E, Roorda AAH, van der Ven BI, Weidema BP (eds) (2002) Handbook on life cycle assessment. Operational guide to the ISO standards. Centrum voor Milieukunde – Universiteit Leiden (CML). Kluwer Academic Publishers

  • Henriksson M, Flysjö A, Cederberg C, Swensson C (2011) Variation in carbon footprint of milk due to management differencies between Swedish dairy farms. Animal 1–11

  • IDF (2010) A common guide for carbon footprint approach for dairy. The IDF guide to standard life cycle assessment methodology for the dairy sector. The international Dairy Federation

  • International Panel on Climate Change (2006) Guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories. IPCC, Geneva. Available at: http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp

  • ISO (2006a) Environmental management—life cycle assessment—principles and framework. ISO 14040:2006(E). International Organization for Standardization, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • ISO (2006b) Environmental management—life cycle assessment—requirements and guidelines. ISO 14044:2006(E). International Organization for Standardization, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • Kristensen T, Mogensen L, Knudsen MT, Hermansen JE (2011) Effect of production system and farming strategy on greenhouse gas emissions from commercial dairy farms in a life cycle approach. Livest Sci 140:136–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leach K, Gerrard CL, Padel S (eds) (2013) Rapid sustainability assessment of organic and low-input farming across Europe and identification of research needs. Deliverable 1.1, EU- SOLID project. ORC, Hamstead Marshall, Newbury. Available online: http://orgprints.org/22721/

  • Lesschen JP, van der Berg M, Westhoek HJ, Witzke HP, Oenema O (2011) Greenhouse gas emission profiles of European livestock sectors. Anim Feed Sci Technol 166–167:16–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marchand F, Debruyne L, Triste L, Gerrard C, Padel S, Lauwers L (2014) Key characteristics for tool choice in indicator-based sustainability assessment at farm level. Ecol Soc 19:3

    Google Scholar 

  • Mogensen L, Kristensen T, Nguyen TLT, Knudsen MT, Hermansen JE (2014) Method for calculating carbon footprint of cattle feeds—including contribution from soil carbon changes and use of cattle manure. J Clean Prod 73:40–51

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nicholas PK, Mandolesi S, Naspetti S, Zanoli R (2014) Innovations in low input and organic dairy supply chains—what is acceptable in Europe? J Dairy Sci 97(2):1157–1167

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt J (2010) Contribution analysis, uncertainty assessment, and policy recommendation. Deliverable 6-3 of the EU FP6-project FORWAST

  • Schmidt JH, Dalgaard R (2012a) National and farm level carbon footprint of milk—methodology and results for Danish and Swedish milk 2005 at farm gate. Arla Foods, Aarhus

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt JH, Dalgaard R (2012b) National and farm level carbon footprint of milk—life cycle inventory fro Danish and Swedish milk. Arla Foods, Aarhus

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt J, Weidema B, Suh S (2010) Documentation of the final model used for the scenario analyses. Deliverable 6-4 of the EU FP6-project FORWAST

  • Sjaunja LO, Baevre L, Junkkarinen L, Pedersen J, Setälä J (1990) A Nordic proposal for an energy corrected milk (ECM) formula. 27th session. ICRPMA, Paris

  • Smith LG, Padel S, Pearce B, Lampkin N, Gerrard C, Woodward L, Fowler S, Measures M (2011) Assessing the public goods provided by organic agriculture: lessons learned from practice. In: Neuhoff D, Halberg N, Rasmussen IA, Hermansen J, Ssekyewa C, Mok S (eds) The third scientific conference of ISOFAR: organic is life—knowledge for tomorrow, Namyangju, Republic of Korea, pp 59–63

  • Steinfeld H, Gerber P, Wassenaar T, Castel V, Rosales M, De Haan C (2006) Livestock’s long shadow. FAO, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomassen MA, van Calker KJ, Smits MCJ, Iepema GL, de Boer IJM (2008) Life cycle assessment of conventional and organic milk production in the Netherlands. Agric Syst 96:95–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weiske A, Vabitsch A, Olesen JE, Schelde K, Michel J, Friedrich R, Kaltschmitt M (2006) Mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in European conventional and organic dairy farming. Agric Ecosyst Environ 112:221–232

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yan MJ, Humphreys J, Holden NM (2013) The carbon footprint of pasture-based milk production: can white clover make a difference? J Dairy Sci 96:857–865

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/ 2007–2013) was received for the research leading to these results, under grant agreement no. FP7-266367 (SOLID-Sustainable Organic and Low Input Dairying). For further details, see www.solidairy.eu.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MTT Agrifood Research Finland, Biotechnology and Food Research, University of Oulu, 90014, Oulu, Finland

    Sanna Hietala

  2. The Organic Research Centre, Hamstead Marshall, Berkshire, RG20 0HR, UK

    Laurence Smith & Susanne Padel

  3. Deparment of Agroecology, Aarhus University, P.O. Box 50, 8830, Tjele, Denmark

    Marie T. Knudsen & John E. Hermansen

  4. MTT Agrifood Research Finland, Biotechnology and Food Research, 31600, Jokioinen, Finland

    Sirpa Kurppa

Authors
  1. Sanna Hietala
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Laurence Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Marie T. Knudsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Sirpa Kurppa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Susanne Padel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. John E. Hermansen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sanna Hietala.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hietala, S., Smith, L., Knudsen, M.T. et al. Carbon footprints of organic dairying in six European countries—real farm data analysis. Org. Agr. 5, 91–100 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13165-014-0084-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13165-014-0084-0

Keywords

  • Organic milk
  • Dairy
  • Carbon footprint
  • GHG
  • LCA