Evaluating the impacts of precision livestock farming (PLF) technologies on the sustainability of pasture-based dairy systems

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dc.check.chapterOfThesisAppendix 1en
dc.check.date2028-05-31
dc.contributor.advisorHennessy, Thia
dc.contributor.advisorOnakuse, Stephen
dc.contributor.advisorShalloo, Laurence
dc.contributor.authorPalma Molina, Paulaen
dc.contributor.funderScience Foundation Irelanden
dc.contributor.funderTeagascen
dc.date.accessioned2025-02-14T15:41:17Z
dc.date.available2025-02-14T15:41:17Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.date.submitted2024
dc.description.abstractDairy farmers are currently facing several conflicting challenges. Projections of global food demand have suggested that the demand for dairy products will increase by 74% by 2050. In conjunction, European policy-makers have established ambitious environmental targets through policy initiatives (Farm to Fork and the Biodiversity strategy) that aim to improve the sustainability of agricultural systems. In order to increase productivity while complying with environmental commitments, dairy farms must improve the efficiency and sustainability of their systems. Pasture-based dairy systems, such as those present in Ireland, New Zealand and some parts of Australia are characterized by having distinct advantages in terms of sustainability compared to indoor dairy systems. They have the potential to be highly productive and economically efficient, have a lower carbon footprint than high input dairy systems, while being socially sustainable (Kelly et al., 2020). However, changes in the scale and complexity of dairy farming are pressuring pasture-based dairy farmers to become more efficient and sustainable. A sustainable production system requires farms to be profitable, minimize its environmental impacts while securing the wellbeing of farmers and animals (the three pillars of agricultural sustainability). Precision livestock farming (PLF) technologies are being promoted to improve the sustainability of dairy systems. They are expected to improve sustainability by increasing pasture use, lengthening the grazing season, improving dairy herd fertility, health, and welfare while reducing workload. Despite the numerous potential benefits, there are still uncertainties about how effective these technologies are in reaching these outcomes. Using nationally representative farm-level data from the 2018 Teagasc National Farm Survey (NFS) and econometric techniques, this thesis contributes to address this knowledge gap by considering three main research questions: 1) what does the published research to date tell us about the sustainability impacts of adopting PLF technologies in global pasture-based dairy settings?; 2) what is the rate of adoption and the factors associated with adoption of PLF technologies in Irish pasture-based dairy settings?; 3) once adopted, what are the impacts of PLF technologies on the sustainability performance of pasture-based dairy farms? The thesis findings on the basis of the literature review show there is a lack of empirical studies investigating the sustainability impacts of PLF technologies in pasture-based dairy settings, and the studies that have been published present contradictory results that make it difficult to synthetize and identify clear positive or negative effects. The empirical assessment of PLF technology adoption presented here shows that adoption rates of PLF technologies are still low in Ireland, ranging from 7.7% of farmers adopting rising plate meters to 58% adoption of automatic parlour feeders. Additionally, findings show that factors such as herd size, proportion of hired labour, agricultural education, and discussion group membership were positively associated with PLF technology adoption, whereas age of farmer and number of household members were negatively associated with adoption. This findings vary depending on the PLF technology cluster being investigated. In terms of empirical impacts of PLF technologies, findings show that adopters of PLF technologies tend to have superior performance outcomes. However, when controlling for selection bias the results were able to only attribute a positive causal effect of grass management technology adoption on grass use, length of the grazing season, milk yield and milk solids, with a broader set of indicators for 2019 (net margin and carbon footprint). Significant effects of adopting milking management technologies were found on milk yield, milk solids and gross margins; and there were no significant effects of adopting reproductive management technologies on any indicator of performance. This suggests that from the group of PLF technologies investigated in this study, grass management technologies show the greatest potential to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of pasture-based dairy farms. Future research should include updated ancillary and technology adoption data that captures more recent adopters of PLF technologies, in addition with new technologies that build on the findings of this thesis.en
dc.description.statusNot peer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationPalma Molina, P. 2024. Evaluating the impacts of precision livestock farming (PLF) technologies on the sustainability of pasture-based dairy systems. PhD Thesis, University College Cork.
dc.identifier.endpage166
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/17047
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherUniversity College Corken
dc.relation.projectinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/SFI/SFI Research Centres Programme::Phase 1/16/RC/3835/IE/VistaMilk Centre/
dc.relation.projectTeagasc ( Walsh Scholarship Programme)
dc.rights© 2024, Paula Palma Molina.
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.subjectPrecision technologies
dc.subjectDairy farms
dc.subjectSustainability
dc.subjectImpact evaluation
dc.titleEvaluating the impacts of precision livestock farming (PLF) technologies on the sustainability of pasture-based dairy systems
dc.typeDoctoral thesisen
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoralen
dc.type.qualificationnamePhD - Doctor of Philosophyen
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