The UK dairy sector exemplifies a consolidation trend widespread across more economically developed countries (MEDC). Between 2005 and 2015, the number of dairy farms fell in the UK by one third, whilst average annual milk... [ view full abstract ]
The UK dairy sector exemplifies a consolidation trend widespread across more economically developed countries (MEDC). Between 2005 and 2015, the number of dairy farms fell in the UK by one third, whilst average annual milk yield per cow increased from 7,000 kg to almost 8,000 kg. This study employs Farm Business Survey (FBS) data for England and Wales from 2001 to 2014 to see whether the observed intensification trend has increased sustainability at the individual farm level. 16 metrics were derived from FBS data to characterise farm production and intensification of production. Further, a model based cluster analysis was used on these metrics to classify exemplar farm types over the study period. This approach allows identification of distinct intensification pathways, which may be obscured by aggregation at the sector level. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that while there was considerable change in the dairy sector over time, the relationship among metrics was constant over this period suggesting that they had identified fundamental farm properties.
Results of this trend analysis show that in the earlier years of the study there were three and four types of dairy farms that were consolidated into two main typologies in 2014. These two main types of dairy farming share the same dairy density (1.4 cows/ha) and revenue milk price ratio (1 £/litre/£/litre). The first one is characterised by high milk yield (7,500 l/cow), concentrate-based feed (1.5 tonne/livestock units), high ratio of maize grass area for feed (0.2 ha/ha), low labour intensity (60 hours/ha), and lower utilisation of the agricultural area (UAA) for grazing animals (0.7 grass area/ UAA). The second farm type is a grass-based system (1 grass area/ UAA) with lower milk yield (6,835 l/cow) and lower dependency on concentrates (1.3 tonnes/ livestock units) but higher labour intensity (68 hours/ha). This consolidation shows that financial margins per litre of milk were achieved equally by both intensive grass-based systems and indoor housing concentrated based systems, but the productivity in terms of milk yield was higher with less labour intensity for the later type. Intensification is reflected in the increase of milk yield and decrease in labour intensity from 2001 to 2014, nonetheless the goal of sustainable intensification is to raise productivity and social welfare while reducing environmental impacts. In this context, these results can be used to model scenarios with different management practices, such that a farm type represents a sustainable system, which takes into account the equilibrium among the social aspects (e.g., labour intensity), the economic components (e.g., revenue milk price ratio), and the environmental impacts (e.g., land change use) of dairy farming.
