Quantitative social sustainability evaluation of Irish dairy farm

Much research has focused on the environmental and economic analysis of dairy farming in Ireland due to its significant environmental impacts and contribution to the national economy. The social impact of dairy farming has... [ view full abstract ]

Much research has focused on the environmental and economic analysis of dairy farming in Ireland due to its significant environmental impacts and contribution to the national economy. The social impact of dairy farming has received much less attention. In order to complete an analysis considering three pillars (environment, economic and social) of sustainability for Irish dairy farms, the social impacts of the life cycle of milk production must be better understood. The Irish dairy sector is subject to a policy to increase productivity by 50% by 2020. The social impact needs to be minimized to achieve sustainable production. In this study the social implication of Irish dairy farms was assessed by using the social life cycle assessment methodology defined by UNEP/SETAC S-LCA guidelines. The function unit was 1 t ECM (energy corrected milk) and system boundary was from “cradle to farm gate”, which defined the main stakeholders: workers (farm owner and employed), the local community (also encompasses the workers), wider society and value chain actors. Twenty social criteria were identified across these four stakeholder categories. The study focused on quantitative indicators such as health and safety, working time and wages to aggregate the social impacts over the life cycle of milk production. The primary datasets used were the National Farm Survey (foreground) and the Life Cycle Working Environment database (background), supplemented by Irish national data (Central Statistics Office, Health and Safety Authority, Bank reports, Government Statistics) and international data (International Labor Organization and OECD). Preliminary results showed a great health and safety issue (fatality rate could be 8 cases/1000 million euro of milk produced) in dairy sector. With information about the social impacts of milk production, farmers and policymakers can make decision to improve the social performance of dairy farm to achieve more sustainable production.