environmental performance; economic performance; benchmarking; dairy farming
Jan Pierrick, Repar Nina, Nemecek Thomas, Dux Dunja (2019), Production intensity in dairy farming and its relationship with farm environmental performance: Empirical evidence from the Swiss alpine area, in
Livestock Science, 224, 10-19.
Repar Nina, Jan Pierrick, Nemecek Thomas, Dux Dunja, Doluschitz Reiner (2018), Factors Affecting Global versus Local Environmental and Economic Performance of Dairying: A Case Study of Swiss Mountain Farms, in
Sustainability, 10(8), 2940-2940.
Repar Nina, Jan Pierrick, Dux Dunja, Nemecek Thomas, Doluschitz Reiner (2017), Implementing farm-level environmental sustainability in environmental performance indicators: a combined global-local approach, in
Journal of Cleaner Production, 140, 692-704.
Repar Nina, Jan Pierrick, Nemecek Thomas, Dux Dunja, Alig Ceesay Martina, Doluschitz Reiner (2016), Local versus global environmental performance of dairying and their link to economic performance: a case study of Swiss mountain farms, in
Sustainability, 8, 1294.
Repar Nina, Jan Pierrick, Nemecek Thomas, Dux Dunja, Lips Markus (2016), Environmental impact generation in the cradle-to-farm gate link: analysis of the importance of the on-farm versus off-farm stage, in
10th International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment of Food 2016 - Book of Abstracts, DublinUCD School of Biosystems Engineering & UCD Institute of Food and Health, Dublin.
Repar Nina, Jan Pierrick, Nemecek Thomas, Dux Dunja (2016), Synergies and trade-offs between local and global farm environmental of dairying: a case study of the Swiss mountain region, in
10th International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment of Food 2016 - Book of abstracts, UCD School of Biosystems Engineering & UCD Institute of Food and Health, Dublin.
Repar Nina, Jan Pierrick, Nemecek Thomas, Dux Dunja (2016), Synergies and trade-offs between farm local and global environmental performance: a case study of Swiss alpine dairy farms, in
Proceedings of the 26th Conference of the Austrian Society of Agricultural Economics, Vienna, AustriaAustrian Society of Agricultural Economics, Vienna.
Dairy farming is the most important sector in Swiss agriculture. An economically viable, environmentally friendly and sustainable dairy farming is therefore essential for guaranteeing the sustainable development of the Swiss agro-food chain. Promoting the economic and environmental performance of the Swiss dairy sector calls for improved know-how at farm level as regards both the determinants of farm economic and environmental performance and the relationship between these two dimensions of the sustainable performance of a farm. The present project aims to: (i) Provide a comprehensive framework for the assessment of environmental performance at farm level;(ii) Investigate in depth the synergies and trade-offs in the promotion of the economic and environmental performance of Swiss dairy farms in the mountain region; (iii) Identify the determinants of, and practices associated with, good economic and environmental performance at farm level;(iv) Demonstrate how farms can improve their economic and environmental performance in practice and test the feasibility of these recommendations with farm managers taking into account the existing path dependency in the development of their farm, as well as the production constraints faced by them.The concept of environmental performance will be further developed and implemented at farm level according to the initial considerations of Jan et al. (2012b), who distinguish between local and global farm environmental performance. These considerations build upon those of Halberg et al. (2005) and Blonk et al. (2010). The project work will be based on a unique and innovative dataset combining both economic and precise and comprehensive environmental (Life Cycle Assessments) data for an unbalanced pooled sample of 56 dairy farms. This dataset will be supplemented with on-farm interviews aiming to contribute to the identification of on-farm practices associated with poor vs. good economic/environmental performance, as well as to test the feasibility of recommendations for improving farm economic and environmental performance.The applicant’s accumulated know-how and experience in farm environmental performance assessment (see Jan et al., 2011; Jan, 2012; Jan et al., 2012a; Jan et al., 2012b), as well as the availability of a unique dataset combining FADN and LCA data for a large sample of dairy farms in the mountain region are the two major strengths of this project for its successful completion. The project will be of benefit for farm managers, farm consultants, policy makers, or other stakeholders such as food processors and retailers, in their endeavour to improve the sustainable performance of the Swiss dairy sector.