TY - JOUR

T1 - Marginal Abatement Cost Curves for Latin American Dairy Production: A Costa Rica case study

AU - Duffy, Colm

AU - Apdini, Titis

AU - Styles, David

AU - Gibbons, James

AU - Peguero, Felipe

AU - Arndt, Claudia

AU - Mancebo Mazzetto, Andre

AU - Vega, Andres

AU - Chavarro-Lobo, Johan

AU - Brook, Robert

AU - Chadwick, Dave

PY - 2021/8/15

Y1 - 2021/8/15

N2 - This study utilises data collected from Costa Rican dairy farmers to conduct a cradle to farm gate Life Cycle Assessment and the first Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC) for dairy production in Latin America. Ninety dairy farms across five farm typologies were assessed, reflecting Costa Rica's diverse agroclimatic zones and varying degrees of dairy/beef specialisation. The efficacy and cost-effectiveness of specific mitigation measures depend on farm typology, but several promising technologies are identified that increase efficiency whilst substantially reducing emissions across most farms – in particular, measures that improve animal health and increase pasture quality. Pasture measures are synergistic with silvopastoral practises and are highly effective at emission mitigation, although relatively expensive. The replacement of lower quality by-product feeds with high quality concentrate feed is a cost-effective mitigation measure at farm level, but emission reductions could be negated by indirect land use change outside the scope of the MACC analyses. Achieving carbon neutrality at farm level is not likely to be possible for most farms, with the exception of extensive farm typologies. Not all measures are suitable in every context, and additional policy support will be needed to offset financial and technical challenges related to adoption. Results of this first tropical dairy MACC study are constrained by lack of high-resolution data, but they highlight the need for farm-typology-specific mitigation recommendations. Overall, there is a high potential for pasture improvement and silvopastoral measures to mitigate the globally significant contribution of Latin American livestock production to climate change.

AB - This study utilises data collected from Costa Rican dairy farmers to conduct a cradle to farm gate Life Cycle Assessment and the first Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC) for dairy production in Latin America. Ninety dairy farms across five farm typologies were assessed, reflecting Costa Rica's diverse agroclimatic zones and varying degrees of dairy/beef specialisation. The efficacy and cost-effectiveness of specific mitigation measures depend on farm typology, but several promising technologies are identified that increase efficiency whilst substantially reducing emissions across most farms – in particular, measures that improve animal health and increase pasture quality. Pasture measures are synergistic with silvopastoral practises and are highly effective at emission mitigation, although relatively expensive. The replacement of lower quality by-product feeds with high quality concentrate feed is a cost-effective mitigation measure at farm level, but emission reductions could be negated by indirect land use change outside the scope of the MACC analyses. Achieving carbon neutrality at farm level is not likely to be possible for most farms, with the exception of extensive farm typologies. Not all measures are suitable in every context, and additional policy support will be needed to offset financial and technical challenges related to adoption. Results of this first tropical dairy MACC study are constrained by lack of high-resolution data, but they highlight the need for farm-typology-specific mitigation recommendations. Overall, there is a high potential for pasture improvement and silvopastoral measures to mitigate the globally significant contribution of Latin American livestock production to climate change.

KW - MACC

KW - LCA

KW - Milk

KW - Footprint

KW - Climate mitigation

U2 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127556

DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127556

M3 - Article

VL - 311

JO - Journal of Cleaner Production

JF - Journal of Cleaner Production

SN - 0959-6526

M1 - 127556

ER -