Environmental impact of primary beef production chain in Colombia: Carbon footprint, non-renewable energy and land use using Life Cycle Assessment

In Colombia, the beef production chain accounts for approximately 11.6 million cattle heads and annually produces 933 million kg of the beef carcass. There are no life cycle assessment (LCA) studies that have evaluated the environmental performance of Colombian beef systems. The present study aimed to estimate the carbon footprint (CF), non-renewable energy use, and land use of 251 cow-calf and 275 fattening farms in Colombia. The study also aimed to identify the main hotspots of adverse environmental impacts and propose possible mitigation options and their cost-effectiveness. The impact categories were estimated using the 2006 IPCC and the 2019 Refinement to 2006 IPCC guidelines, databases, and locally estimated emission factors. The functional units used were 1 kg fat and protein corrected milk (FPCM) and 1 kg live weight gain (LWG), leaving the farm gate. Three methods of allocating environmental burdens to meat and milk products were applied: economic, energy, and mass allocation. The adoption of improved pastures was considered a mitigation measure, and an economic assessment was performed to estimate the relative cost-effectiveness of its establishment. A principal component multivariate analysis and a Hierarchical Clustering on Principal Components were performed. The economic allocation method assigned a greater environmental burden to meat (83%), followed by energy content (80%) and mass production (73%). The largest sources of GHG emissions were enteric fermentation and manure deposited on pasture. Both cow-calf and fattening systems had a cluster of farms with better productivity, pasture and cattle management practices, and environmental performance. The CF for meat could be reduced by 33 to 56% for cow-calf and 21 to 25% for fattening farms, by adopting improved pastures. Therefore, our results suggest that GHG emissions can be reduced by adopting improved pastures, better agricultural management practices, efficient fertilizer usage, using the optimal stocking rate, and increasing productivity

Yield gap analysis to identify attainable milk and meat productivities and the potential for greenhouse gas emissions mitigation in cattle systems of Colombia

CONTEXT Colombia has a total of 27.2 million heads of cattle, ranking fourth among the Latin American countries. Identifying sustainable strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) will help the Colombian government meet their goal of a 51% reduction in national emissions by 2030. Estimation of yield gaps for identifying the potential to improve cattle farms productivity and efficiency in Colombia help on reducing the GHGE intensities from the cattle sector. OBJECTIVE This paper aims to calculate the gap between attainable and actual milk and meat yields for specialized dairy, dual-purpose, cow-calf, and fattening production systems in 3 agro-ecological zones (AEZ) in Colombia; to identify the main aspects that restrict the meat and milk yields in these production systems; and analyze how closing yield gaps affect the carbon footprint (CF) of meat and milk production. METHODS The most suitable AEZs for cattle activities were identified by considering environmental, climatic, edaphic, and land characteristics. From a dataset of 1505 surveyed farms, a yield gap benchmarking analysis for estimating the potential to increase meat and milk yields in each of the identified AEZ was applied. The most productive farms were included in the “best farms” while the rest of the farms belonged to the “farms operating below potential”. A “cradle to farm-gate” Life Cycle Assessment was used to calculate the CF. Three scenarios were proposed for closing the yield gaps by 50, 75, and 100%, between the two groups of farms. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Three AEZs likely to support cattle activities in Colombia were identified. Average milk production from the farms operating below potential was 45–50% of potential production, and meat was 34–51%, indicating that a potential to achieve increases in milk and meat productivity exists. CFs of 1 kg milk or meat were lower in the groups of best-performing farms than in the groups of farms operating below potential. Yield gaps for milk and meat production can be closed by improving cattle management practices and better technologies. As a general trend, closing the yield gaps decreases the CFs. SIGNIFICANCE Our findings contribute to understand the farms' current productive performance and provides key insights into the possible technological and managerial changes for improving the productivity of cattle systems in Colombia. In addition, the study showed how milk and meat CFs can be lowered with the adoption of proper cattle management practices, and better technologies

Life Cycle Assessment of small, medium and large dairy cattle farms in Colombia

In Colombia, cattle production is responsible for 31% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the agricultural sector. Dairy farms account for 15% of the Colombian cattle herd. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of GHG emissions from these farms are not common, and when performed, are based on a small number of farms. LCA is important because the identification of appropriate GHG mitigation actions requires larger data sets. This study quantified the carbon footprints (CF) on 192 dairy farms in Colombia by using LCA methodology. Farms were classified according to their herd size: small (0-30 animals; n=94), medium (31-50; n=32), large (>50; n=66). Emissions were estimated using the GHG emission factors reported in the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, and locally estimated emission factors. A “cradle to farm gate” system boundary was established, and a physical allocation method proposed by the International Dairy Federation, was used to distribute GHG emissions between co-products. The functional units were 1 kg fat and protein corrected milk (FPCM) and 1 kg live weight gain (LWG). The CF (kg CO2-eq kg-1FPCM/LWG) for medium (1.6 FPCM and 13.8 LWG) and large farmers (1.6 FPCM and 13.1 LWG) were the lowest among the categories. The medium and large farm categories were characterized by implementing better pasture and herd management practices, by the highest milk productivity (3240.8 and 3645.6 kgFPCM Cow-1Year-1) and stocking rate (4.5 AU ha-1;4.4 AU ha-1). It is possible to improve the environmental performance of farms by increasing productivity and adopting better agricultural practices

Carbon footprint, non-renewable energy and land use of dual-purpose cattle systems in Colombia using a life cycle assessment approach

This is a post-print, peer-reviewed version of an article published in Livestock Science. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2020.10433