The environmental impact of dairy production: 1944 compared with 2007.

By J. Capper, R. Cady, D. Bauman. Journal of Animal Science, 2009

629 citations recorded by the source corpus.

A common perception is that pasture-based, low-input dairy systems characteristic of the 1940s were more conducive to environmental stewardship than modern milk production systems. The objective of this study was to compare the environmental impact of modern (2007) US dairy production with historical production practices as exemplified by the US dairy system in 1944. A deterministic model based on the metabolism and nutrient requirements of the dairy herd was used to estimate resource inputs and waste outputs per billion kg of milk. Both the modern and historical production systems were modeled using characteristic management practices, herd population dynamics, and production data from US dairy farms. Modern dairy practices require considerably fewer resources than dairying in 1944 with 21% of animals, 23% of feedstuffs, 35% of the water, and only 10% of the land required to produce the same 1 billion kg of milk. Waste outputs were similarly reduced, with modern dairy systems producing 24% of the manure, 43% of CH(4), and 56% of N(2)O per billion kg of milk compared with equivalent milk from historical dairying. The carbon footprint per billion kilograms of milk produced in 2007 was 37% of equivalent milk production in 1944. To fulfill the increasing requirements of the US population for dairy products, it is essential to adopt management practices and technologies that improve productive efficiency, allowing milk production to be increased while reducing resource use and mitigating environmental impact.

Subfields: Ecology, Environmental Engineering, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/7a1e28236013405851b01321e32320a72de786a2

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Citations in the corpus

Trends in Global Agricultural Land Use: Implications for Environmental Health and Food Security. (2018, background): “produces 60% more milk with 80% fewer cows now than in the 1940s (25).”
Greenhouse gas taxes on animal food products: rationale, tax scheme and climate mitigation effects (2011, background): “Overall, GHG emissions per unit of food have decreased over time and are likely to continue to do so (Cederberg et al. 2009a; Capper et al. 2009; Vergé et al. 2009).”
Milk availability: trends in production and demand and medium-term outlook (2012, background): “…Europe and North America the corresponding values are 1-2 kg CO2equivalent Improvements in livestock productivity have been locally shown to have resulted into reduced (direct) emission intensity - described as CO2 eq per physical unit of output - (Capper et al., 2009, European Commission, 2005).”
Climate change and the growth of the livestock sector in developing countries (2010, background): “This view is supported by historical trends: for example, the carbon footprint per kg of milk produced in the USA in 2007 was 37% of its value in 1944 ( Capper et al. 2009 ).”
Invited review: Enteric methane in dairy cattle production: quantifying the opportunities and impact of reducing emissions. (2014, background): “Tremendous progress in genetic selection of dairy cattle has been made over the past 60 yr and, combined with improvements in animal management, has resulted in a 400% increase in North American milk yields (Hansen, 2000; VanRaden, 2004; Shook, 2006; Capper et al., 2009).”
Pathways for sustainable development of mixed crop livestock systems: Taking a livestock and pro-poor approach ☆ (2011, background): “Such combinations of breeds, feeds and health were instrumental in raising the efficiency of developed country livestock production (Capper et al., 2009).”