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Metrics and methods for characterizing dairy farm intensification using farm survey data

Gonzalez-Mejia, Alejandra; Styles, David; Wilson, Paul; Gibbons, James

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Authors

Alejandra Gonzalez-Mejia

David Styles

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PAUL WILSON PAUL.WILSON@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Professor of Agricultural Economics

James Gibbons



Abstract

Evaluation of the sustainability of intensification requires comprehensive analysis of trends in farm performance across physical and socio-economic aspects, which may diverge across farm types. Typical reporting of economic indicators at sectorial or the average farm level may not represent farm diversity and is potentially insufficient to evaluate and guide the sustainability of intensification. Using farm business data from a total of 7281 farm survey observations of English and Welsh dairy farms over a 14-year period we calculate a time series of 16 key performance indicators (KPIs) pertinent to farm structure and environmental and socio-economic aspects of sustainability. We then apply principle component analysis and model-based clustering analysis to identify statistically distinct dairy farm typologies for each year of study, and link these clusters through time using multidimensional scaling. Between 2001 and 2014, dairy farms have largely consolidated and specialized into two distinct clusters: more extensive farms relying predominantly on grass, with lower milk yields but higher labour intensity and more intensive farms producing more milk per cow with more concentrate and more maize, but lower labour intensity. There is some indication that these clusters are converging as the extensive cluster is intensifying slightly faster than the intensive cluster, in terms of milk yield per cow and use of concentrate feed. In 2014, annual milk yields were 6,835 and 7,500 l/cow for extensive and intensive farm types, respectively, whilst annual concentrate feed use was 1.3 and 1.5 tonnes per cow. For several KPIs such as milk yield the mean trend across all farms differed substantially from the extensive and intensive typologies. The indicators and analysis methodology developed allows identification of distinct farm types and industry trends using readily available survey data. The identified groups allow the accurate evaluation of the consequences of the reduction in dairy farm numbers and intensification at national and international scales.

Citation

Gonzalez-Mejia, A., Styles, D., Wilson, P., & Gibbons, J. (2018). Metrics and methods for characterizing dairy farm intensification using farm survey data. PLoS ONE, 13(5), Article e0195286. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195286

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 13, 2018
Online Publication Date May 9, 2018
Publication Date May 9, 2018
Deposit Date Apr 25, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal PLoS ONE
Electronic ISSN 1932-6203
Publisher Public Library of Science
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 13
Issue 5
Article Number e0195286
DOI https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195286
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/931751
Publisher URL http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0195286

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