Skip to main content
Log in

Nutrient losses from global dairy production systems differ

  • Research Briefing
  • Published:

From Nature Food

View current issue Submit your manuscript

The demand for dairy produce is growing alongside concerns about the impact of intensive dairying on water quality owing to nutrient loss. We found that nitrogen losses were greatest from all-grazed systems, but could be lowered by incorporating some housing.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1: Location of the different dairy systems covered in the study.

References

  1. Clark, M. et al. Estimating the environmental impacts of 57,000 food products. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 119, e2120584119 (2022). An article highlighting the eutrophication risk associated with the production of different food products, including dairy.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. McDowell, R. W. & Wilcock, R. J. Water quality and the effects of different pastoral animals. NZ Vet. J. 56, 289–296 (2008). A review article summarizing contaminant losses from land to water from different livestock operations.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Gilker, R. E. & Weil, R. R. Inorganic nitrogen losses to groundwater are minimal from two management-intensive grazing farms in Maryland. Renew. Agric. Food Syst. 33, 347–359 (2018). An article that measured lower nitrate losses to groundwater in grazed than in confined dairy systems.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Wong, J. et al. Consumer premiums for environmentally friendly grass-fed and organic milk in the Southeast. J. Agribusiness 28, 75–88 (2010). An article outlining the magnitude and reasons behind consumer premiums for grass-fed milk.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Klages, S. et al. Nitrogen surplus—a unified indicator for water pollution in Europe?. Water 12, 1197 (2020). An article outlining the case for using a nitrogen surplus to guide policy to improve water quality.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: McDowell, R. W. et al. Limiting grazing periods combined with proper housing can reduce nutrient losses from dairy systems. Nat. Food https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00644-2 (2022).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nutrient losses from global dairy production systems differ. Nat Food 3, 988–989 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00645-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00645-1

  • Springer Nature Limited

Navigation