Assessing climate mitigation strategies on an Irish commercial dairy farm

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Provides a detailed LCA framework and quantitative results on mitigation trade-offs in dairy farming.

🏢実務担当者:Offers insights into specific measures (feed additives, slurry amendments) that could be adopted to reduce emissions, though with potential eutrophication trade-offs.

🏛政策担当者:Highlights the need for balanced policies that consider multiple environmental impacts when promoting agricultural mitigation.

Post abolition of the European Union’s milk production quotas, the Irish dairy sector has expanded rapidly, both economically and in its environmental footprint. This expansion, driven by increased herd sizes and higher milk yields, has resulted in a marked rise in greenhouse gas emissions, posing challenges to Ireland’s climate targets given the agricultural sector’s dominant contribution. In this context, the present study applies life cycle assessment (LCA) following ISO 14040/44 standards, with a cradle-to-farm-gate boundary, to quantify the baseline environmental impacts of a commercial dairy farm and to evaluate the mitigation potential of selected strategies. The assessment considered methane and nitrous oxide from enteric fermentation, fertiliser use and manure management, and upstream emissions from feed and energy inputs. Impacts were expressed as global warming potential (GWP, kg CO₂-eq), acidification potential (AP, g SO₂-eq), and eutrophication potential (EP, g P-eq), each per kilogram of fat- and protein-corrected milk (FPCM). In 2018, Shinagh Farm’s baseline footprint was 0.86 kg CO₂-eq, 2.63 g SO₂-eq, and 0.13 g P-eq per kg FPCM. Three scenarios were simulated, ranging from partial (low adoption) to full (high adoption) implementation of measures including biological nitrogen fixation, anti-methanogenic feed additives, slurry amendments, and native feed substitution. Results show that GWP could be reduced by 13%-26% (equivalent to savings of up to 291 t CO₂-eq annually), while AP declined by 38%-52%. However, EP increased by 4%-12%, mainly due to higher phosphorus emissions from native feed use. These findings underscore the importance of balancing trade-offs across environmental indicators and highlight the need for further research to validate on-farm implementation of these strategies.

• openalex https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nexres.2026.102110first seen 2026-08-03 04:47:35