Dairy farm resiliency: automated milking, soil health, crossbreeding, and Agrivoltaics

Abstract

As the demand for dairy products increases and the challenges of climate change, land availability, farm profitability and labor markets heighten, the environmental, economic, and social sustainability of dairy farms will be required to remain in the industry. Understanding the metrics used to measure sustainability and the boundaries of these metrics is necessary to prevent miscommunication and compare the effects of management changes. Although the dairy industry has greatly reduced its environmental footprint in the last 50 years, this trend must continue to meet future environmental and societal demands. Nutrient use efficiency must be improved with the use of cover crops or perennials and reformulated rations without excess nutrients to minimize the economic and environmental consequences of farm nutrient loss. Diversifying dairy farms with dairy-beef production may help to minimize GHG emissions from the combined dairy and beef industries. These environmental objectives cannot be accomplished without profitable dairy farms. Frequent use of financial benchmarking tools will aid farmers in navigating the market volatility of the dairy and feed industries. Yet, dairy farmers must acquire and retain a reliable workforce whether human or robots in order to achieve environmental and economic goals. Sustainability is fundamentally context dependent, varying structurally, geographically, and in environmental complexity. In relation to this individuality this thesis will detail the effects of a variety of tools to achieve profitability, improve farmer wellbeing and increase environmental sustainability including the use of automated milking systems, livestock management for soil health, crossbred cull cow value and the integration of forage cultivation and solar energy production also known as Agrivoltaics.