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Sustainability of Dairy Production Systems

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2022) | Viewed by 11164

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Edelmiro López Iglesias

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Guest Editor

Department of Applied Economics, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Interests: agricultural economics; agricultural policies; rural development; land mobility; dairy sector

Dr. María Dolores Domínguez García

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Guest Editor

Department of Applied Economics, Public and Political Economy, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Interests: agricultural economics; collaborative management; transdisciplinary approaches; urban and rural development

Dr. Paul Swagemakers

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Guest Editor

Governance and Economics Research Network (GEN), Department of Applied Economics, University of Vigo, Ourense, Spain
Interests: rural development; agricultural economics; circular economy; closing nutrient cycles; dairy farming systems; food policy & planning

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Dairy production systems are highly diverse between and within countries and regions. These production systems can be categorized by different variables, such as confinement or grazing outdoors, high output or low output, conventional or organic, and extensive or intensive.

Dairy farmers are facing a number of challenges today. Demands for a lower environmental impact, more animal welfare, and less intensive production need to be balanced with the pressures from market liberalization and the achievement of adequate income for producers. Given the social, economic, and environmental performance of dairy production in the different countries and regions, the shift towards more sustainable systems is a key challenge. In this regard, both sectoral and territorial perspectives are relevant to develop integrated solutions for a future-proof dairy production. This requires farmers to assess their resource dependencies and vulnerabilities, to explore market opportunities, and to identify roles to be played by other partners in the dairy value chains.

For this Special Issue, we welcome theoretical and empirical contributions that explore different aspects of dairy production systems, differentiation strategies, and the complex set of sociospatial relationships between farms and other components of dairy value chains, focusing on their environmental, economic, and social sustainability. Both in-depth case studies as well as comparative analyses are possible. We also appreciate contributions that address public policies aiming to reduce and mitigate environmental impacts through feeding practices, breeding, manure management, and other changes in production systems (e.g., shifts from conventional to organic production, strategies for reducing the use of external inputs).

Dr. Edelmiro López Iglesias
Dr. María Dolores Domínguez García
Dr. Paul Swagemakers
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

dairy production systems
environmental, economic, and social sustainability
animal welfare
dairy farms resilience
new milk value chains
nutrient cycles and permanent grassland
public policies in the dairy sector
social contracts and payment schemes

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 2282 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Rendered Agroecosystem Services and Dysservices of Dairy Farming: A Bottom-Up Approach in Galicia (Spain)

by Ibán Vázquez-González, María do Mar Pérez-Fra, Ana Isabel García-Arias, Bernardo Valdês-Paços and Edelmiro López-Iglesias

Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8509; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158509 - 29 Jul 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2124

Abstract

Humans have traditionally sought provisioning services from rural areas, but society is becoming increasingly aware of other services that rural areas provide to human beings, agroecosystem services. At the same time, however, certain dysservices can be identified. The analysis of agroecosystem services and dysservices is a key point to consider in decision-making processes and provides a tool for acting on sustainability. Notwithstanding, few approaches to the dairy sector exist with this focus, and they often do not incorporate the vision of the actors from the entire value chain. The aim of the present paper is to identify agroecosystem services and dysservices deriving from the dairy farming in Galicia (Spain), as perceived by actors linked to this sector. The methodology followed a bottom-up approach (Focus Group) and identified 19 agroecosystem services (S) and 9 dysservices (D) grouped into four main categories: provisioning (6S/0D), environmental quality (5S/5D), rural vitality (6S/2D), and cultural heritage and quality of life (2S/1D). The results show strong awareness of services and dysservices, in particular as regards rural vitality (mainly related to employment and income generation) and environmental services (dyservices linked to intensive systems). We have, however, detected a significant gap in awareness of certain classical environmental services (carbon sequestration of pastures). Finally, one of the innovative findings is the identification of rural vitality services and dysservices, including the social role that farming plays in consolidating the population in rural areas, and in preserving local traditions and culture. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability of Dairy Production Systems)

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17 pages, 1408 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study of the Variability in Fatty Acids and Carotenoid Profiles: Laying the Ground for Tank Milk Authentication

by Ana Villar, Ibán Vázquez-González, Fernando Vicente, Gregorio Salcedo, Laura González, Adrián Botana, Luís José Royo, Paola Eguinoa and Juan Busqué

Sustainability 2021, 13(8), 4506; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084506 - 18 Apr 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1602

Abstract

This study analyzes 174 tank milk samples taken from 89 commercial farms located all along the Cantabrian Coast (Green Spain). Sampling was performed in two periods: autumn 2016 and spring 2017. A survey was carried out for every day of sampling to record the average lactating dairy cow production and its diet composition. For each sample, the fatty acid (FA) profile (49 FA plus its main relationships) and nine fat-soluble antioxidant (FSA) profiles (retinol (vitamin A), α- and Υ-tocopherol (vitamin E), all-trans-β-carotene, 9-cis-β-carotene, 13-cis-β-carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin, and β-cryptoxanthin) were determined. The milk production varied between 7.3 and 45.9 liters per cow per day, highlighting the diversity found among production systems. The milk fat content ranged from 2.64% to 4.38% and the protein content from 2.87% to 3.56%. Regarding the fatty acids profile, the percentage of saturated fat varied between 59.95% and 75.99%. The linolenic acid content fluctuated between 0.21 and 1.31 and rumenic acid ranged from 0.20 to 2.47 (g 100 g⁻¹ total FA). The most important correlations between diet and milk FA were always related to the content of fresh grass and total forage (which is defined by both fresh and conserved forage derived from fresh grass (GCF)) in the diet. The content of vaccenic acid, linolenic acid, total omega-3, rumenic acid, and total CLA isomers showed the highest correlation with the proportion of fresh grass in the diet. The antioxidant contents were also highly variable, although correlations with dietary components were lower. The highest correlations were between total forage content (fresh grass (FG) plus GCF) and lutein, all-trans-β-carotene, and 13-cis-β-carotene. Diets without fresh grass had lower omega-3 content, CLA, vaccenic acid, lutein, all-trans-β-carotene, and 13-cis-β-carotene. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability of Dairy Production Systems)

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15 pages, 794 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Is It Possible to Estimate the Composition of a Cow’s Diet Based on the Parameters of Its Milk?

by Ana Villar, Gregorio Salcedo, Ibán Vázquez-González, Elena Suárez and Juan Busqué

Sustainability 2021, 13(8), 4474; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084474 - 16 Apr 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1475

Abstract

Understanding the composition of a cow’s diet through the analysis of its milk is very useful in the linking of the product consumed with the systems involved in its production. The aim of this study is to show the diet–milk composition relationship using correspondence analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. This study analyzed 174 tank milk samples taken from 89 commercial farms located in “Green Spain”. Sampling was performed in two different periods: autumn 2016 and spring 2017. The correspondence analysis allowed for study into the general relationships between diet components and their relationship with the composition of milk (chemical composition, fatty acid profile (FA), and fat-soluble antioxidants (FSA)). The model used to estimate the percentage of fresh grass (FG) in the diet had a high predictive power (R_aj² > 0.7), and the explanatory variables included in the model were linolenic acid (C18:3-n3), vaccenic acid (trans11-C18:1), and cis12-C18:1. The regression equation was applied to the 174 tank milk samples individually. To evaluate the equation’s predictive capacity, different thresholds for the dry matter percentage of fresh grass in the ration were marked (15%, 20%, 25%, and 30%), above which milk could be considered “grass-fed milk”, and below which, “not grass-fed milk”. The equation is considered valid when it correctly classifies the sample. The highest percentage of success (89.7%) was obtained by marking a threshold of 25% FG. When analyzing the misclassified milk samples, that is, where the equation did not classify the milk sample well according to its fresh grass composition, it was observed that the majority of cases corresponded to milk samples that came from herds fed with fresh grass above the marked threshold (>25%) but with a high content of concentrate in the ration. The conclusion is that the percentage of concentrate in the diet has a very important influence on the fatty acid profile of milk, particularly with respect to fresh grass. This is in such a way that anywhere above a concentrate content of >30%, the equation’s capacity to estimate the percentage of fresh grass decreases. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability of Dairy Production Systems)

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21 pages, 2519 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Increasing Dairy Sustainability with Integrated Crop–Livestock Farming

by Susanne Wiesner, Alison J. Duff, Ankur R. Desai and Kevin Panke-Buisse

Sustainability 2020, 12(3), 765; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12030765 - 21 Jan 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4988

Abstract

Dairy farms are predominantly carbon sources, due to high livestock emissions from enteric fermentation and manure. Integrated crop–livestock systems (ICLSs) have the potential to offset these greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as recycling products within the farm boundaries is prioritized. Here, we quantify seasonal and annual greenhouse gas budgets of an ICLS dairy farm in Wisconsin USA using satellite remote sensing to estimate vegetation net primary productivity (NPP) and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines to calculate farm emissions. Remotely sensed annual vegetation NPP correlated well with farm harvest NPP (R² = 0.9). As a whole, the farm was a large carbon sink, owing to natural vegetation carbon sinks and harvest products staying within the farm boundaries. Dairy cows accounted for 80% of all emissions as their feed intake dominated farm feed supply. Manure emissions (15%) were low because manure spreading was frequent throughout the year. In combination with soil conservation practices, ICLS farming provides a sustainable means of producing nutritionally valuable food while contributing to sequestration of atmospheric CO₂. Here, we introduce a simple and cost-efficient way to quantify whole-farm GHG budgets, which can be used by farmers to understand their carbon footprint, and therefore may encourage management strategies to improve agricultural sustainability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability of Dairy Production Systems)

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