Summary
This comprehensive 15-year life cycle assessment examined 738 dairy and 1,887 suckler-beef UK farms to evaluate whether specialisation in milk production reduces environmental burdens compared to diversified dairy-beef systems. The study found substantial farm-level variation in environmental footprints not captured by 'average farm' analyses, and demonstrated that increasing dairy farm diversification through higher dairy-beef output per unit of milk reduced multiple environmental burdens by up to 11–56%, with no trade-off between global and local emissions. The research challenges the prevailing dairy intensification pathway of specialisation, suggesting that on-farm diversification represents a more environmentally efficient production strategy.
Regional applicability
These findings are directly applicable to UK dairy policy and practice, as they are based on commercial UK farms and reflect actual management variation. The research provides evidence-based guidance for UK agricultural policy that currently incentivises dairy specialisation, suggesting that regulatory frameworks and subsidy structures should be reconsidered to encourage diversified farm enterprises.
Key measures
Five major LCA environmental footprints (carbon, water, eutrophication, acidification, and land use footprints per unit of milk and beef output)
Outcomes reported
The study quantified five major life cycle assessment (LCA) footprints across 738 dairy farms and 1,887 suckler-beef farms over 15 years, comparing environmental burdens of dairy-beef co-production versus specialised milk production with displaced beef production.
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