Environmental efficiency : meaning and measurement and application to Australian dairy farms

Technical efficiency has been widely studied in the literature, but in its pursuit, many of the inputs used can impact on the environment. Environmental effects can be modelled as undesirable output or, as has been the case in more recent studies, as conventional inputs. This paper examines the concept of environmental efficiency and how it can be used to evaluate the performance of Australian dairy farming, using nitrogen surplus, arising from excessive applications of fertilizer, as a detrimental input. Farming promotes the image of clean and green production and if this image is to be maintained, there is a need to ensure activities are environmentally friendly.

Measuring dairy farm performance

To fully consider production impacts, this thesis adopts a systems perspective and uses a biophysical model, DairyMod, to measure the interactions between system components and gauge the environmental impact of dairy farming arising from nitrogen use. Performance from the perspective of both the individual farmer and society is examined.

Milking their health for all its worth? Improving the health of farming families through facilitated learning

The Victorian Dairy Industry has an annual turnover of $5,125 million and produces over two thirds of the nation’s fresh milk and cheese, but what do we know about the health of the dairy men and women who drive this industry, and how can health professionals and industry assist them to focus on the health of the people involved in the farm business? The Sustainable Dairy Farm Families (SDFF) program undertook research exploring the health, wellbeing and safety of Victorian Dairy farming families across eleven locations. The program involved physical assessments, reviewed health conditions and health behaviours and provided education relating to common health conditions. Risk factors were identified for chronic and lifestyle diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. Participants were referred to health professionals as required and reassessed over three years concluding in 2007. The program has influenced participants’ decisions about their health and improved some clinical indicators. A cross-sectoral intervention appears to be an effective method for improving health, wellbeing and safety in farm men and women and their families.

The Sustainable Farm Families Project : changing attittudes to health

Introduction: Farm health and safety has historically focussed on strategies such as injury prevention, safety audits and fulfilling legislative responsibilities. However, farmer injuries mask deeper health issues including higher rates of cancer, suicides, cardiovascular disease and stress. The relationship between occupational health and safety and farm family health has not been fully investigated. The Sustainable Farm Families (SFF) project attempts to make this connection in order to address premature death, morbidity and injury on Australian farms. The SFF project illustrates how increasing health literacy through education and physical assessment can lead to improved health and knowledge outcomes for farm families.

Methods: The SFF project focuses on the human resource in the triple bottom line and is working with farmers, families, industry and universities to collaboratively assess and promote improvement in the health and wellbeing of farm families. Based on a model of extension that engages farm families as active learners where they commit to healthy living and safe working practices, the SFF project is proving to be an effective model for engaging communities in learning and change. Health education and information is delivered to farm men and women aged 18 to 75 years using a workshop format. Pre- and post-knowledge surveys, annual physical assessments and focus group discussions form the methodological context for the research over a three-year intervention.

Results: This article discusses the progress of the research outlining the design of the SFF project, the delivery and extension processes used to engage 321 farm families from within a broadacre and dairy-farming family sample. The article presents key learnings on intersectoral collaboration, engaging farmers and families in health, and the future for this project extending into agricultural industries across the nation. Key results reveal that health issues do exist in farming families and are often underreported by family members. Health indicators were at a level where referral and intervention was required in over 60% of men and 70% of women in both broad acre and dairy industries. Farm men and women verbalised health concerns relating to access, support and control mechanisms of the health system. Participants also revealed how they put into practice their new knowledge and how this has influenced their health.

Conclusions: The key learning is that farm men and women who are at high risk of premature morbidity and mortality will participate in health education and assessment programs based on industry collaboration with high levels of individual participation. This program provides evidence that farmers will engage with health professionals if programs are presented to them in personally engaging and relevant ways. The SFF program is a definite tool for interventional health promotion that supports attitudinal change to health and farming practices.

International perspectives on psychosocial working conditions, mental health, and stress of dairy farm operators

Dairy farm operators-farmers, workers, and family members-are faced with many demands and stressors in their daily work and these appear to be shared across countries and cultures. Dairy operators experience high psychosocial demands with respect to a hard work and production ethos, economic influences, and social and environmental responsibility. Furthermore, both traditional and industrial farms are highly dependent on external conditions, such as weather, fluctuating markets, and regulations from government authorities. Possible external stressors include disease outbreaks, taxes related to dairy production, and recent negative societal attitudes to farming in general. Dairy farm operators may have very few or no opportunities to influence and control these external conditions, demands, and expectations. High work demands and expectations coupled with low control and lack of social support can lead to a poor psychosocial work environment, with increased stress levels, ill mental health, depression, and, in the worst cases, suicide. Internationally, farmers with ill mental health have different health service options depending on their location. Regardless of location, it is initially the responsibility of the individual farmer and farm family to handle mental health and stress, which can be of short- or long-term duration. This paper reviews the literature on the topics of psychosocial working conditions, mental health, stress, depression, and suicide among dairy farm operators, farm workers, and farm family members in an international perspective.

Wastewater reuse and treatment options for the dairy industry

Milk-processing plants generate significant quantities of wastewater with relatively high organic matter concentrations on a daily basis. In addition to environmental damage that can result from the discharge of these wastewaters into the natural waterways, the presence of products such as milk solids into wastewater streams represents a loss of valuable product for the plants. This paper presents a review of wastewater management practices employed by six milk-processing plants in Victoria, Australia. In all six plants investigated, milk powder represents a major product. During the milk powder production, water is evaporated, condensed and can be reused for various purposes with a significant impact on water usage. Other major products are anhydrous milk fat, cheese, butter, and UHT milk. The effectiveness of the practices was assessed through two main criteria: first through the water to milk intake ratio, and the waste volume coefficient. Both parameters characterise the plant efficiency in regard of water consumption and water reuse, Information on cleaning chemical usage and recovery was also assessed as part of the review. Significant discrepancies emerge between the plants first due to the products manufacturad and water reuse possibilities available in each plant. Second the type of treatment technologies used for condensate and cleaning solution influences the figures. One of the investigated plants is almost self-sufficient for water, emphasising the benefits gained from the use of technologies like membrane separations for condensate and cleaning solution treatment. In some cases, less cost-intensive technologies such as a clarifier are successful to improve cleaning agent recovery.

Sodium adsorption using activated alumina for application in the dairy industry

Basic activated alumina with negatively charged surface is considered as a potential adsorbent for a targeted molecule with positive polarity. Adsorption of sodium by basic activated alumina was investigated as a method for desalting dairy waste streams, in which sodium ion concentration averaged 600 mg/L. Sodium equilibrium and kinetic adsorption were investigated using basic activated alumina with synthetic brines. The results of equilibrium adsorption show that uptake of sodium by activated alumina is significantly higher when the pH is greater than 8 and increases as the pH of the brines increases until pH reaches around 10. The results of kinetic adsorption show that 90 hours were needed to reach equilibrium for sodium adsorption. Binding and diffusion processes are suggested to have taken place within the activated alumina.

Incorporating environmental impacts into productivity analysis: the case for nitrogen leaching in the Australian dairy industry

This paper examines how the adoption of a system's perspective to the use of both marketed and public resources can be incorporated into an analysis of productivity measurement.  A biophysical model is used to measure the environmental inputs which are combined with conventional marketed inputs to develop a Malmquist Productivity Index to determine social productivity growth over the perios under study.  The analysis is applied to data collected from selected farms in south west Victoria and includes a measure of leaching and run-off as a proxy measure of the impact the application of fertilizers has on ground and surface water.  Although the sample is small, the results show measured productivity growth differs when environmental factors are considered.

Sustainability: meaning and measurement with application to agriculture

Sustainability refers to having the ability to meet present needs without impacting on future generations to meet their needs. It incorporates social, economic and environmental aspects, and as a measure of sustainability, a range of sustainability indicators at the economy, regional, and individual level, have been suggested. However, given the complex and multidisciplinary nature of the concept, an interdisciplinary approach is necessary. Sustainability is not something that is easily measurable, and the aim of this paper is to present a conceptual framework for quantifying sustainability on the basis of social economic efficiency. According to neoclassical economic theory, economic activity will only be sustained by the private sector as long as it is profitable. However, private economic decisions do not always ensure long-term sustainability of environmental resources or production. The approach suggested here is to derive a measure of social economic efficiency as a measure of sustainability. For dairy farmers, increased productivity has been emphasized, while recognizing the need to reduce greenhouse emissions, pests and disease, nutrient run-off into the environment and degradation of the soil structure. By incorporating environmental and economic impacts, a fuller measure of efficiency, social economic efficiency, and sustainability of the farming practice can be developed.

Input usage, output mix and industry deregulation: an analysis of the Australian dairy manufacturing industry

In this paper we estimate a Translog output distance function for a balanced panel of state level data for the Australian dairy processing sector. We estimate a fixed effects specification employing Bayesian methods, with and without the imposition of monotonicity and curvature restrictions. Our results indicate that Tasmania and Victoria are the most technically efficient states with New South Wales being the least efficient. The imposition of theoretical restrictions marginally affects the results especially with respect to estimates of technical change and industry deregulation. Importantly, our bias estimates show changes in both input use and output mix that result from deregulation. Specifically, we find that deregulation has positively biased the production of butter, cheese and powders.

The challenge for the dairy industry arising from the new health claims standard: an impetus for innovation

The publication of a Preliminary Final Assessment Report on 4 April 2007 heralded another step towards the introduction of a new Health Claims Standard to be inserted into the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code. This Health Claims Standard, once approved by the Board of Food Standards Australia New Zealand and by the Australia New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council, will permit the making of certain substantiated health claims. Prior to the introduction of the new Standard, health claims have not been permitted on food labels, with the exception of claims in relation to maternal folate consumption and its positive effect in reducing the risk of foetal neural tube defects. The new Health Claims Standard as outlined in the Preliminary Final Assessment Report is likely to have a significant impact on the dairy industry. This paper seeks to analyse that impact, including threats, opportunities and challenges that the Standard poses to the dairy industry and other food suppliers.

Efficiency measurement of Australian dairy farms: national and regional performance

In this paper we use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to estimate technical efficiency for a sample of 1742 Australian dairy farms. Bearing in mind data limitations we find that average technical efficiency is 59 per cent, but there are significant regional differences. These results reflect differences in State level milk marketing arrangements in place before dairy deregulation in July 2000 providing an ex post explanation for the changing composition of dairy farms in Australia. We also examine two important technical aspects of DEA implementation. First, how changes in model input specification alter the relative performance of farms. Second, we employ a simple bootstrap procedure to show how changes in sample size affects estimates of technical efficiency. These results have simple but important implications for the use of DEA as an industry-benchmarking tool.