Farm To Regional Scale Integration Network Webinar, Feb 2023
A recording of the Farm to Regional Scale Integration Network webinar from 9th February 2023 titled “Rethinking Tools to Assess Impacts from Dairy Farms Beyond Greenhouse Gas Emissions” is now available to view below. The presentation slides can also be downloaded from the panel on the right hand side.
This webinar brought experts together to discuss indicators for environmental impact assessment of dairy farms other than greenhouse gas emissions. The speakers shared their experiences using multiple indicators for an impact assessment on dairy farms and discussed potential trade-offs between these indicators. The webinar included presentations from:
- Dr. Catherine Pfeifer (FiBL, Switzerland): “A food system perspective to livestock husbandry, why we should look beyond greenhouse gases?”
- Dr. Alan Rotz (USDA, USA): “Local, regional and national environmental assessment of United States Dairy Farms”
- Dr. Monika Zehetmeier (LFL, Germany): “Insight from the LfL Klima-Check”
Dr. Pfeifer opened the session with an overview of the role of dairy production in food systems. She highlighted that eco-efficiency (e.g. greenhouse gas emissions per unit of animal products) alone is not sufficient to understand the impact of dairy production to the planetary boundaries. Dr. Rotz continued presenting an approach to assess the impact of dairy production in different regions of the USA. He included an assessment of reactive nitrogen emissions, volatile organic compounds, and phosphorus loss in his study. Finally, Dr. Zehetmeier presented a tool that includes economic indicators to identify cost-effective measures to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.
The webinar was attended by 43 participants from different research organizations and dairy industries. The participants discussed the potential of using multiple indicators and tools presented by the speakers in developing countries. In addition, a discussion about the allocation of impact to different products of dairy production (i.e. milk, meat, and manure) took place. Finally, half of the participants joined a deep dive session where each speaker was allocated to a breakout room to answer further questions.