Sustainability In Pasture-Based Dairy Farming

One of the questions modern farmers face is whether they can farm in an environmentally sustainable, yet profitable, way. Craig Galloway provided the answer in his PhD thesis on the sustainability of pasture-based dairy farms.

- Craig Galloway

 The negative environmental impacts of dairy farming are well-established and widely researched. They include loss of biodiversity, eutrophication, ammonia and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and inefficient resource use. The question is, what practices can be implemented to reduce these impacts while ensuring the long-term profitability of farms? Society wants food at a lower environmental cost, while farmers are challenged with adverse climatic conditions, difficult market conditions and an uncertain political climate.

These were some of the questions explored by sustainable agriculture researcher, Dr Craig Galloway, in his recently completed PhD in Conservation Ecology at Stellenbosch University. The research was conducted using data collected by Trace & Save (traceandsave.com) for the Woodlands Dairy Sustainability Project. The farms included in the study were all pasture-based dairy farms in the Eastern Cape, between the Storms River in the west and the Great Fish River in the east. This includes the Tsitsikamma, Oyster Bay, Humansdorp, Gamtoos, Alexandria, Cookhouse and Cradock regions.

The Eastern Cape is the largest milk-producing province in South Africa, and the majority of dairy farmers in the study area apply a pasture-based system, making this an ideal location to explore sustainability on dairy farms.

ALL FOR SUSTAINABILITY