Effect of farming system changes on life cycle assessment indicators for dairy farms in the Italian Alps

In some Alpine areas dairy farming is going through a process of intensification with significant changes in farming systems. The aim of this study was to investigate environmental performance of a sample of 31 dairy farms in an Alpine area of Lombardy with different levels of intensification. A cradle to farm gate life cycle assessment was performed including the following impact categories: land use, non-renewable energy use, climate change, acidification and eutrophication. From a cluster analysis it resulted that the group of farms with lowest environmental impacts were characterized by low stocking density and production intensity; farms that combined good environmental performances with medium gross margins were characterized also by high feed self sufficiency and lowland availability. Environmental impacts of dairy farms in the mountain areas could be mitigated by the improvement of forage production and quality and by the practice of summer highland grazing, that significantly reduced eutrophication per kg of milk of the less self-sufficient farms.