Assessing whole farm sustainablility

geder spanien

 

 

 

 

 

By Katharine Leach & Susanne Padel, Organic Research Centre, Elm Farm, UK

Whole farm sustainability assessments have been an ef-fective way of opening up discussions with dairy farmers on what is needed to make their farms more sustainable, and revealed some interesting differences between countries.

At the start of our participatory research, the first con-tacts with farmers have been made, by assessing whole farm sustainability on ten dairy farms in each country. The SME Partner organisations, which include farmer co-ope-ratives, organic certification bodies and advisors, have helped to recruit farms illustrating the range of organic/low input systems involved with the partner, in terms of size, intensity or level of input use (within the organic or low input population), commonly used breeds, marketing channels and type of products.

Farmer interviews
Farmer interviews provide information on aspects of farm sustainability (Figure 1). For each of these “spurs”, the assessment is based on scoring key activities, using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative data, readily availa-ble in farm records. Each activity is scored between 1 (lo-west mark) and 5 (high presence of activities contributing to sustainability). For example, the score for biodiversity considered participation in agri-environmental schemes, the presence of habitats, and rare species.  The score for animal health and welfare was comprised of 4 activities related to health, feeding, housing and natural behaviour.  Some activities were assessed using several questions while others required only one. Farmers can see their own results on a “spider diagram” and later compare their farms with other scores (see example for Denmark in Figure 1).

UK farms
In the UK, farms were members of OMSCO, a coopera-tive selling cows’ milk from 300 dairy farmers. Selected farms had 167 – 422 ha and 105 -378 cows. UK farms scored comparatively low on nutrient management, but the farmers were interested in improving their soil and some linked this with a need for better manure manage-ment. Farms from Calon Wen, a Welsh cooperative partner, will be visited during summer 2012.
Austrian farms
Austrian farms were members of the organic producer cooperative “Sennerei Hatzenstädt” in Tyrol, which has about 40 farmer members and mainly produces cheese. The farms are in mountainous areas, small (10 – 17 cows), and have several different enterprises, usually in-cluding forestry. Because there is no shortage of water in these areas, water management is not a priority, resulting in low scores for this spur.

 

rapid ass


Figure 1: Summary of sustainability indicator scores for 10 organic dairy farms in Denmark.  A high score indicates more activities that contribute to greater sustainability.

 

Finnish farms
The Finnish farms comprised all the members of Juvan Luomu Ltd, the only totally organic dairy in Finland. Herd size was 20 – 170 cows, and average yield was 8000 kg/cow (1000 kg less than the Finnish conventional ave-rage). Four farms also produce biogas from manure and food wastes.

In Denmark
Thise Dairy Company is one of the pioneers of organic milk supply in Denmark, with a strong focus on quality and innovation throughout the production chain. The assessment showed a strong influence of regulations, leading to comparatively high scores for soil, water and fertiliser management.
In Belgium
This was also the case in Belgium, where the farmers were paying particular attention to soil management and animal health and welfare due to strong regulation and public demand. They were recruited with the help of Wim Govaerts and Co, an SME that is active in advisory ser-vices for dairy farms (cows, goats and sheep) also in the Netherlands and France.

In Romania
Agro Solomonescu in Romania operates a low-input dairy unit (500 ha and 150 cows) as well as collecting milk from other dairy farms. Farms recruited covered the varied geographical regions in Romania. More than half were using no chemical fertiliser. Some farmers would be inte-rested in becoming organically certified, but had no clear knowledge of the specific rules and implications.

In Italy
In Italy the SME is an organic certification body, ICEA, whose head office is in the Bologna region, where Par-migiano cheese is a local speciality. Italian farms studied included those producing milk from cows and goats; two low-input but conventional farms were included for com-parison.

In Greece, Spain and the Netherlands
Goat farms were also assessed in Greece, Spain and the Netherlands (through the Belgian partners).The Greek research partner DAPVET recruited farms more widely. Many Greek goat farms were operating with very low energy inputs, in some cases without electricity.
Cabrandalucía in Spain is a Federation of six goat breeding associations in Andalucía. The farms recruited through this SME are mainly low-input, but some are or-ganic. They keep between 225 and 600 goats, with some producing cheese. Farmers were interested in novel forages, particularly the work on ensiling tomatoes with straw which will be further investigated in SOLID Work Package 3.

On-farm trials
The findings of this exercise are now being reported and used to stimulate discussion on research topics at farmer meetings in each country and will lead to the develop-ment of on-farm trials in most countries in the next stage of the project.

Farms in Austria – a description

By Roswitha Weissensteiner & Werner Zollitsch,  University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria

Austria´s farms for SOLID: For the rapid assessment in WP1, farms were identified for the case study. They should represent traditional alpine dairy production, which can be characterised as low input, with organic dairy production playing a major role.

In Austria dairy production is one of the most important agricultural activities, as more than 50 % of the agricul-turally used land is permanent grassland. This is mainly located in mountainous areas from the west to the centre of Austria, alongside the ridge of the Alps. 70 % of all Austrian dairy farms are located in these disadvantaged areas and produce about 2/3 of the milk with herds of on average between 10 and 15 cows.
The predominant alpine dairy production system can be characterised as low input, with organic dairy production playing a major role. In these production systems, feeding during summer time is based on the utilization of perma-nent grassland, which is cut 2 or 3 times and conserved as hay or silage. During the winter time cows are typically kept in barns for 5 to 6 months. The input of concentrates is relatively low. In general little (conventional) or no mi-neral N fertilizers (organic) are used, manure is the main source for fertilizing grassland.

The organic dairy cooperative “Sennerei Hatzenstädt”
For the rapid assessment in WP1, farms were identified for the case study, which should represent traditional al-pine dairy production. Therefore members of the organic dairy cooperative “Sennerei Hatzenstädt” (Table) were chosen to participate in the rapid assessment.
The cooperative is situated in Tyrol, an alpine province in the West of Austria. It has about 40 members, which deliver their milk to the cooperative dairy plant where it is processed to hard cheese and other dairy products.

Farmers visited and interviewed
Last winter 12 farmers and their families were visited and interviewed. The farms are relatively homogenous in their structures; they are small in size, they are managed as typical low input systems with relatively low lactation milk yield, but also with an absolutely low use of concentra-tes (Table). They are managed by the farmer’s family, which typically consists of members of three generations; no further staff is employed. The on-site conditions are characterised by steep slopes, a relatively short growing season and an annual precipitation of 1200 to 1800 mm. Only permanent grassland, but no arable land is farmed. All farmers also own forest land, and earnings from sel-ling timber is important for the total farm-income. All farms have several economic cornerstones: The main source of income is the dairy production, in addition to incomes from forest, direct marketing of meat, agro-tourism and other non-farm incomes.
In a workshop with farmers, the results of the rapid as-sessment were presented and potential issues for further research were identified and discussed. In a meeting scheduled for autumn 2012 one research topic will be finally defined which will be followed up in 2013.

tabel

 

Conference: How can we ensure sustainable cattle production systems for future generations?

Title: Conference: How can we ensure sustainable cattle production systems for future generations?
Location: Falkenberg strandbad, Falkenberg, Sweden
Link out: Click here
Description: The increasing demand for meat and milk will continue to force agriculture to lower its environmental footprint. Today’s farmers need to plan for the future. This conference will help provide information to enable farmers, researchers, policy makers and consumer organizations to deal with these complex issues now and in the future.

Start Date: 2012-09-09
Start Time: 18.00
End Date: 2012-09-11
End Time: 15.00