Innovative Technology and Sustainable Development of Organic - 1.

include the purchase of heifers as compensation for the culled and deceased cows. This was expensive
for the BAU scenario, but in ENV and ANW scenario costs for rearing young stock, i.e. feed, labour
and capacity costs, were included (table 6). Financing costs were lowest in ENV because the herd was
smaller.
The estimation of net profit was lowest in ANW scenario, followed by BAU and ENV. Net profit
includes all labour expenses, resulting in a negative figure for BAU and ANW. In practice this implies
that the payment per hour of work for the farmer will be lower than the one assumed in table 5.
5.3.2 Environmental evaluation of scenarios
Results of the environmental evaluation of scenarios are presented in table 8. The environmental
evaluation of scenarios quantified N-surplus, GHG emissions and energy consumption. The N-surplus
was lowest in ENV, which resulted from the low N-input. This low N-input was due to the fact that
ENV is self-sufficient with respect to feed. In all scenarios we assumed no import or export of manure.
In BAU, however, manure import would have been impossible, as the limit of 140 kg of N ha -1 from
manure from the home herd input was reached (Danish standard).
Table 8. Greenhouse Gas emission, nitrogen (N) surplus and fossil energy use per year for three
scenarios of organic dairy production in Denmark, i.e., business as usual (BAU), animal welfare
(ANW) and environmental scenario (ENV).
Farm N-balance
BAU ANW ENV
N-surplus (kg N ha -1 ) 117 116 80
N-input 1) (kg N ha -1 ) 169 160 109
N-output 2) (kg N ha -1 ) 51 44 30
N-output / cow year (kg N cow -1 ) 141 127 132
Greenhouse gas emissions
Total (kg CO2-eq) 1,741,563 1,409,821 910,523
Relative percentage (%) 100 81 52
Expressed per kg ECM 3) (%) 100 107 96
Expressed per MPU 4) (%)
Relative percentage from Enteric Fermentation per
100 88 87
MPU (%) 100 92 106
From external source (%) 42 26 9
From energy use (%) 5 6 8
Fossil energy consumption
Total (MJ) 1,753,080 1,453,243 1,009,779
Relative percentage (%) 100 83 69
Expressed per kg ECM (%) 100 109 105
1)
N import comprises nitrogen in seed, N- fixation, concentrates and precipitation
2)
N export comprises nitrogen in milk and meat
3)
ECM = energy-corrected milk
4)
MPU = milk producing unit
98 Sustainable Technology in Organic Dairy Farming