Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in Dairy Production Considering Incentives and Farm Heterogeneity

Reducing emissions from livestock production is at the forefront of the ongoing policy discourse aimed at reducing the environmental impact of agricultural emissions and achieving net zero goals. This study examines farmer incentive to adopt breeding practices with the potential to improve farm-level environmental outcomes in dairy cattle. The modelling approach accounts for region-specific agroecological variables, milk yields, farm costs, manure management practices and input use. We also examine the potential role of revenue from the sale of carbon offsets and estimate and report the abatement costs of different scenarios. We find evidence of a wide variation in abatement costs ($479 tonne CO2eq-1 - -$830 tonne CO2 eq-1 ) resulting from the implementation of the various practices. Variation in outcomes across the two regions analysed was limited. We find that whilst additional revenue from the carbon offset market can change farmer incentive, maximizing the potential of these mitigation measures requires the right complementary manure management practices.