Dutch dairy farms after milk quota abolition: Economic and environmental consequences of a new manure policy

Abstract

The abolition of the Dutch milk quota system has been accompanied by the introduction of a new manure policy to limit phosphate production (i.e., excretion via manure) on expanding dairy farms. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of these recent policy changes on the farm structure, management, labor income, nitrogen and phosphate surpluses, and greenhouse gas emissions of an average Dutch dairy farm. The new manure policy requires that any increase in phosphate production be partly processed and partly applied to additional farmland. In addition, phosphate quotas have been introduced. Herein, we used a whole-farm optimization model to simulate an average farm before and after quota abolition and introduction of the new manure policy. The objective function of the model maximized labor income. We combined the model with a farm nutrient balance and life-cycle assessment to determine environmental impact. Based on current prices, increasing the number of cows after quota abolition was profitable until manure processing or additional land was required to comply with the new manure policy. Manure processing involved treatment so that phosphate was removed from the national manure market. Farm intensity in terms of milk per hectare increased by about 4%, from 13,578kg before quota abolition to 14,130kg after quota abolition. Labor income increased by €505/yr. When costs of manure processing decreased from €13 to €8/t of manure or land costs decreased from €1,187 to €573/ha, farm intensity could increase up to 20% until the phosphate quota became limiting. Farms that had already increased their barn capacity to prepare for expansion after milk quota abolition could benefit from purchasing extra phosphate quota to use their full barn capacity. If milk prices increased from €355 to €420/t, farms could grow unlimited, provided that the availability of external inputs such as labor, land, barn capacity, feed, and phosphate quota at current prices were also unlimited. The milk quota abolition, accompanied by a new manure policy, will slightly increase nutrient losses per hectare, due to an increase in farm intensity. Greenhouse gas emissions per unit of milk will hardly change, so at a given milk production per cow, total greenhouse gas emissions will increase linearly with an increase in the number of cows.

Economic effect of reducing nitrogen and phosphorus mass balance on Wisconsin and Québec dairy farms

“…The latter has been used as an environmental impact indicator (especially when the concern is regional water quality), whereas the former has emerged as the unit of preference in life cycle analysis for greenhouse gases emissions (a global atmospheric concern). Some authors have kept these respective assessments with their respective units (Klootwijk et al, 2016), but others have begun to calculate whole-farm , 12.5, 25, 33, 50, 75, 87.5, 93.75, 96.875, 98.438, and 99.9% of achievable reduction, which is depicted by the horizontal line marked with an × going from left to right, respectively, and where the furthest point to the left is the balance when the objective is to maximize net income (0% reduction) and the minimum balance is indicated by the point furthest to the right (99.9% reduction). FPCM = fat-and proteincorrected milk; QC = Québec; WI = Wisconsin.…”

“…Few attempts have been made to combine these 2 types of tools into a farm-level economic decision-making aid. Europeans have a long history of using modeling techniques to explore economic and environmental outcomes associated with changes in management practices and legislative policies (Berentsen and Giesen, 1995;Klootwijk et al, 2016). Other modeling efforts have focused on reduction of whole-farm nutrient balances (Wang et al, 2000) or optimization of manure allocation (Giasson et al, 2002).…”

Invited review: Academic and applied approach to evaluating longevity in dairy cows

“…Different legislation and regulations within a country elicit different management strategies and goals and, therefore, different outcomes (Bergeå, 2007;Frössling and Nöremark, 2016;Ritter et al, 2017). Factors such as import or export restrictions for cattle, international agreements regulating the trade of dairy products, global abolition of the supply management system (except for Canada), processor capacity, and environmental policies, such as those limiting phosphate production, have had a considerable effect on producer decision making regarding longevity (Klootwijk et al, 2016;Doornewaard et al, 2018).…”

More milking days with lower yields : sustainability impacts of short or no dry periods in dairy cows

“…For example, an increase in milk yield was shown to increase labour income and reduce GHG emissions per unit milk in a Dutch farm situation under conditions optimised for labour income or GHG emissions (Van Middelaar et al, 2015). Conclusions may be different now, however, because the milk quota has been replaced by a phosphate excretion quota (Klootwijk et al, 2016). Each Dutch dairy farm now has a phosphate excretion quota based on its herd size in July 2015 and standard excretion factors (RVO, 2018).…”