Carbon footprint of milk from sheep farming systems in Northern Spain including soil carbon sequestration in grasslands

Batalla, Inmaculada; Knudsen, Marie Trydeman; Mogensen, Lisbeth; Hierro, Ó. del; Pinto, M.

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.05.043

Cited by 81 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…This intensification has led to a separation of livestock and territory, a process that is interrupting nutrient flows and causing soil organic matter depletion in the territories where animal feed is originally produced, often also generating pollution in the place where the livestock is housed [2]. Direct environmental impacts of this process include groundwater pollution, the increase of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions [3,4], concentration of polluting waste [5], and growth of energy consumption [6]. Indirect impacts, most of them related to animal feeding, are also to be considered, including deforestation, soil erosion, and loss of biodiversity [7], particularly in the main intensive agricultural regions [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy Assessment of Pastoral Dairy Goat Husbandry from an Agroecological Economics Perspective. A Case Study in Andalusia (Spain)

et al. 2018

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This paper presents a methodological proposal of new energy sustainability indicators according to a novel accounting that follows agroecological and ecological economics criteria. Energy output is reformulated to include manure and thus consider the contribution to fertilization made by pastoral livestock farming to agroecosystems. Energy inputs calculations include the grazing resources. These new definitions and calculations allow for new formulations of the energy return on investment (EROI) as measures of the energy efficiency of livestock farming systems (final EROI and food/feed EROI). The environmental benefit of manure is estimated from the avoided energy cost of using this alternative to inorganic fertilizers (AEC M ). The environmental benefit of grazing is measured through the energy cost of avoiding cultivated animal feed (AEC P ) and its impact in terms of non-utilized agricultural area (ALC P ). The comparative analysis of different livestock breeding systems in three pastoral dairy goat farms in the Sierra de Cádiz in Andalusia, southern Spain, reveals the analytical potential of the new energy sustainability indicators proposed, as well as the potential environmental benefits derived from territorial-based stockbreeding and, more specifically, grazing activities. Those benefits include gains in energy efficiency, a reduction of the dependence on non-renewable energy, and environmental costs avoided in terms of energy in extensive pastoral systems.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy Assessment of Pastoral Dairy Goat Husbandry from an Agroecological Economics Perspective. A Case Study in Andalusia (Spain)

et al. 2018

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“…In accordance with the obtained fuel consumption and the fact that combusting 1 L of diesel emits 2640 g of CO 2 , the total amount of CO 2 emissions is determined [59,60]. Taking into account the average number of requests (postal items) that a courier can deliver under given conditions, the amount of CO 2 emissions per item can be defined, within the transport process on delivery.…”

Section: Analysis Of the Impact Of The New "Post Express Nonstop" Sermentioning

confidence: 99%

New Express Delivery Service and Its Impact on CO2 Emissions

et al. 2020

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A rapid development of Internet technologies creates new opportunities for e-commerce, which is one of the fastest-growing segments of the entire economy. For policymakers, the most important aspects of e-commerce are related to the cost reduction in transportation, facilitation of administration and communication, innovations at the market level, and environmental issues. An unavoidable part of the e-commerce production process is related to the postal service. New market expectations of modern society lead to the consideration of upgrading the traditional express delivery service in terms of time availability. In this paper, we propose a new 24-h availability of postal and courier service so-called “post express nonstop”. To assess the potential demand for this kind of service, we propose a forecasting procedure based on the Bass diffusion model. In particular, the research is directed toward the examination of environmental issues, considering both types of services—traditional and the proposed new one. A comparison is done by analyzing CO2 emissions in the last-mile delivery of goods to the users’ addresses. The experiment was carried out in the city of Belgrade, simulating the last-mile delivery under realistic conditions and controlling the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. In accordance with the results of this experiment and the forecasted number of postal items, a projection of CO2 emissions for the new service from 2020 to 2025 was carried out. The results show a significant contribution of the proposed new express delivery service to environmental well-being and sustainability.

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“…Soils are the largest carbon reservoir of the terrestrial carbon cycle. However, there is no official method to estimate soil carbon for livestock farms and only a few studies have investigated this factor [24,25]. Different agricultural practices and land use can have significant effects on carbon stored in the soil.…”

Section: Soil Carbon Sequestrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Herbage residues and manure were included in the computation of the annual inputs of carbon into grassland. The former was calculated according to [24]. These authors considered above-and below-ground residues at 40% and 16% of total yield, respectively, and assumed a 45% content of C on a dry matter basis.…”

Section: Soil Carbon Sequestrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both abandonment of traditional farms or their transformation into intensive enterprises leads to a loss of open areas and forest re-growth [17], a damage of biodiversity [18][19][20], and a rural area undergoing radical socio-economic changes [21][22][23]. Only a few studies took soil carbon sequestration from grassland into account [24][25][26]. These grasslands may act as a carbon sink, with soil carbon sequestration of about 1 t CO 2 ha −1 year −1 having been described [27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of Feed Concentrate Intake on the Environmental Impact of Dairy Cows in an Alpine Mountain Region Including Soil Carbon Sequestration and Effect on Biodiversity

et al. 2020

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Several studies on the environmental impacts of livestock enterprises are based on the application of life cycle assessments (LCA). In Alpine regions, soil carbon sequestration can play an important role in reducing environmental impacts. However, there is no official methodology to calculate this possible reduction. Biodiversity plays an important role in the Alpine environment and is affected by human activities, such as cattle farming. Our aim was to estimate the carbon footprint (CF) of four different dairy production systems (different in breeds and feeding intensity) by using the LCA approach. The present study included 44 dairy Alpine farms located in the autonomous province of Bolzano in northern Italy. Half of the farms (n = 22) kept Alpine Grey and the other half (n = 22) Brown Swiss cattle. Within breeds, the farms were divided by the amount of concentrated feed per cow and day into high concentrate (HC) and low concentrate (LC). This resulted in 11 Alpine Grey low concentrate (AGLC) farms feeding an average amount of 3.0 kg concentrated feed/cow/day and 11 Alpine Grey high concentrate (AGHC) farms with an average amount of 6.3 kg concentrated feed/cow/day. Eleven farms kept Brown Swiss cows with an average amount of 3.7 kg concentrated feed/cow/day (BSLC) and another 11 farms feeding on average 7.6 kg concentrated feed/cow/day (BSHC). CF for the four systems was estimated using the LCA approach. The functional unit was 1 kg of fat and protein corrected milk (FPCM). Furthermore, two methodologies have been applied to estimate soil carbon sequestration and effect on biodiversity. The system with the lowest environmental impact in terms of CF was BSHC (1.14 kg CO2-eq/kg of FPCM), while the most impactful system was the AGLC group (1.55 kg CO2-eq/kg of FPCM). Including the CF reduction due to soil carbon sequestered from grassland, it decreased differently for the two applied methods. For all four systems, the main factor for CF was enteric emission, while the main pollutant was biogenic CH4. Conversely, AGLC had the lowest impact when the damage to biodiversity was considered (damage score = 0.41/kg of FPCM, damage to ecosystem diversity = 1.78 E-07 species*yr/kg FPCM). In comparison, BSHC had the greatest impact in terms of damage to biodiversity (damage score = 0.56/kg of FPCM, damage to ecosystem diversity = 2.49 E-07 species*yr/kg FPCM). This study indicates the importance of including soil carbon sequestration from grasslands and effects on biodiversity when calculating the environmental performance of dairy farms.

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Carbon footprint of milk from sheep farming systems in Northern Spain including soil carbon sequestration in grasslands

Cited by 81 publications

References 18 publications

Energy Assessment of Pastoral Dairy Goat Husbandry from an Agroecological Economics Perspective. A Case Study in Andalusia (Spain)

Energy Assessment of Pastoral Dairy Goat Husbandry from an Agroecological Economics Perspective. A Case Study in Andalusia (Spain)

New Express Delivery Service and Its Impact on CO2 Emissions

Effect of Feed Concentrate Intake on the Environmental Impact of Dairy Cows in an Alpine Mountain Region Including Soil Carbon Sequestration and Effect on Biodiversity

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