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Improving livestock production efficiencies presents a major opportunity to reduce sectoral greenhouse gas emissions

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  • Hyland, J.J.
  • Styles, D.
  • Jones, D.L.
  • Williams, A.P.

Abstract

The livestock sector is under considerable pressure to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Repeated measurements of emissions over multiple years will indicate whether the industry is on course to successfully meet emission reduction targets. Furthermore, repeated analyses of individual farm emissions over different timeframes allow for a more representative measure of the carbon footprint (CF) of an agricultural product, as one sampling period can vary substantially from another due to multiple stochastic variables. To explore this, a CF was measured for 15 livestock enterprises that had been assessed three years previously. The aims of the research were to: (1) objectively compare CFs between sampling periods; (2) assess the relationship between enterprise CF and input efficiency; (3) use scenario analyses to determine potential mitigation measures. Overall, no significant difference was detected in beef and lamb enterprise CFs between the two sampling periods. However, when all observations were pooled together, the lowest-emitters were found to have more efficient systems with higher productivity with lower maintenance “overheads”, compared with their higher-emitting counterparts. Of significance, scenario analyses revealed that the CF of beef and lamb could be reduced by 15% and 30.5%, respectively, if all enterprises replicated the efficiency levels of the least-emitting producers. Encouraging and implementing efficiency gains therefore offer the livestock industry an achievable method of considerably reducing its contribution to GHG emissions.

Suggested Citation

  • Hyland, J.J. & Styles, D. & Jones, D.L. & Williams, A.P., 2016. "Improving livestock production efficiencies presents a major opportunity to reduce sectoral greenhouse gas emissions," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 123-131.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agisys:v:147:y:2016:i:c:p:123-131
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2016.06.006
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Jakub Staniszewski & Łukasz Kryszak, 2022. "Do Structures Matter in the Process of Sustainable Intensification? A Case Study of Agriculture in the European Union Countries," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-19, February.
    2. Shuai Shi & Yu Jing & Cuixia Li, 2019. "Mitigation Effect of Carbon Emission Tax in Dairy Farming: An Empirical Study of Heilongjiang Province in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-16, January.
    3. Hyland, John J. & Heanue, Kevin & McKillop, Jessica & Micha, Evgenia, 2018. "Factors underlying farmers' intentions to adopt best practices: The case of paddock based grazing systems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 97-106.
    4. McNicol, Louise C. & Williams, Non G. & Chadwick, Dave & Styles, David & Rees, Robert M. & Ramsey, Rachael & Williams, A. Prysor, 2024. "Net Zero requires ambitious greenhouse gas emission reductions on beef and sheep farms coordinated with afforestation and other land use change measures," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    5. Hyland, John J. & Heanue, Kevin & McKillop, Jessica & Micha, Evgenia, 2018. "Factors influencing dairy farmers’ adoption of best management grazing practices," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 562-571.
    6. Valeria Borsellino & Sina Ahmadi Kaliji & Emanuele Schimmenti, 2020. "COVID-19 Drives Consumer Behaviour and Agro-Food Markets towards Healthier and More Sustainable Patterns," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-26, October.

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