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PARALLEL SESSION 1B: TOWARDS LIFE CYCLE SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
Comparing integral sustainability performance of conventional farms
with farms focussing on internal recycling of nutrients
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Mark A. Dolman 1,2,* , Marthijn P.W. Sonneveld 3 , Herman Mollenhorst 2,4 , Imke J.M. de Boer 2
1 Agriculture Economics Research Institute, part of Wageningen University and Research centre, The Hague, The Netherlands
2 Animal Production Systems Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
3 Soil Geography and Landscape Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
4 Business Economics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Corresponding author. E-mail: mark.dolman@wur.nl
ABSTRACT
Sustainable milk production systems require economically viable, environmentally sound and socially acceptable practices. We
compared sustainability indicators of a group of conventional farms with a group of farms aiming at improved internal nutrient cycle
(INC) on their farm. Economic performance was based on net farm income (NFI) and labour productivity. Environmental performance
indicators were derived from a cradle-to-farm-gate life cycle assessment, i.e., land occupation (LO), non-renewable energy use
(NREU), global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP) and eutrophication potential (EP). Moreover, soil- and water
quality were monitored. Societal performance was quantified with payments for ecosystem services, grazing hours and penalties for
aberrant milk composition. INC farms positively differ from conventional farms in a lower non-renewable energy use, higher soil
organic carbon and receiving higher payments for ecosystem services, without compromising on economic performance. High standard
deviations for other indicators suggest that differences within both groups are mostly higher than between groups.
Keywords: sustainability, FADN, dairy farming, nutrient cycling
1. Introduction
A commonly used definition on sustainability is to meet the needs of current generations without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs and aspirations (WCED, 1987).
Sustainable milk production systems require economically viable, environmentally sound and socially
acceptable practices (Thomassen et al., 2009). Besides delivering marketable products, the delivery of
products and services related to the quality of the environment, i.e. ecosystem services, is becoming
increasingly important. Such services include the value of the landscape and the contribution to biodiversity,
water storage and supply of clean groundwater (MEA, 2005). Soil quality is a key aspect with respect to
ecosystem services (Bennet et al., 2010). Land use by agriculture, however, rapidly intensified, causing
deterioration of soil structure, impoverishment of the soil and a decline in soil organic matter (EU, 2006).
This deterioration of soil quality threatens the future food production and other important ecosystem
services. The supply of ecosystem services in the Netherlands is originating from specific landscapes, for
example the National Landscape ‘Noordelijke Friese Wouden (NFW)’ in the North of the Netherlands.
Several farmers in this area follow a farming practice, aiming at an improved internal nutrient cycle (INC) on
their farm. In order to minimize use of external inputs, INC farms focus on optimizing use of on-farm
available resources, for example, soil organic matter, nutrients from manure and home-grown feed
production (Van Hees et al., 2009). INC farms, therefore, can make a significant contribution to preservation
of food producing capacity, while additionally producing ecosystem services. An integral assessment that
quantifies the effect caused by this INC approach, however, is never performed. Several studies have
assessed the environmental performance of INC farms in the past (Sonneveld et al., 2008). So far, however,
no life cycle assessment (LCA) of INC farms has been performed. Moreover, an integral assessment,
including economic, environmental, and societal indicators has never been performed.
The objective of this study, therefore, is to quantify the economic, environmental and societal
performance of INC farms in the NFW and, secondly, benchmark with a conventional milk production
system comparable in terms of farm size, intensity and site-specific circumstances.
2. Methods
2.1. Data
Data needed to quantify economic, environmental and societal indicators of farms were derived from the
farm accountancy data network (FADN) and the Minerals Policy Monitoring Programme. We quantified a
two-year average sustainability performance of nine INC farms (2008-2009). For every INC farm, a conventional
‘mirror-farm’ was composed from farms in FADN, using statistical matching. Central assumption for
statistical matching is that farms resembling for the imputation variables, also resemble for the goal variables,
in this case sustainability performance indicators (Vrolijk et al., 2005). For every INC farm, ten similar