Global warming and mitigation potential of milk and meat production in Lombardy (Italy)

Lombardy is one of the most important Italian regions for livestock productions. It produces approximately 42% of Italian cow milk and an important part of Italian pork (40.6%) and beef (31.6%, including culled cows and veal meat). Moreover, Lombardy contributes for 11.5% to the Italian chicken meat production and for 7.53% to rabbit meat. The objective of the study was to estimate the total global warming potential (GWP) of milk and meat productions in Lombardy through a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach and to evaluate the mitigation potential of milk and pork productions. The animal products considered were cow milk and meats from swine, cattle, chickens and rabbits, which represent the almost totality of meat produced in Lombardy. Milk productions and milk composition of Lombardy farms were obtained from the Italian Breeders Association recordings and converted into Fat and Protein Corrected Milk (FPCM). The total GWP of milk production at farm gate in Lombardy was calculated using the mean value of 1.37 kg CO2 eq./kg FPCM, obtained in previous LCA analyses on 102 dairy farms representative of farming systems in Lombardy. The functional unit was 1 kg of FPCM leaving the farm gate. Total meat production in Lombardy was obtained from official statistical data on slaughtered animals. For estimating GWP of meat production the results of previous LCA studies were used; the functional unit was 1 kg of live weight leaving the farm gate. The total GWP of cow milk production in Lombardy was 6.12 Mt CO2 eq.; the most part (90.8%) was generated by farms from lowland, 5.8% from mountains and 3.4% from hills. Results indicate that in Lombardy emission mitigation strategies have to be primarily applied to lowland farms. The total GWP of meat production in Lombardy was 8.5 Mt CO2 eq. Total GWP from milk and meat production in Lombardy was quantified in 14.6 Mt CO2 eq. The most contributing sectors to regional GWP from livestock are dairy and pork. Considering the protein content of animal products, it is noticeable that pork meat and milk had similar contributions to the total protein supply from milk and meat in Lombardy (42.2 vs 37.1% for milk and pork, respectively) but different impacts on GWP (41.9% vs 24.7%, respectively). Beef production gives a small contribution to protein supply but a high contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. Mitigation potentials were evaluated by applying to dairy and pork operations the GWP figures of actual farms of low impact. The results showed that the dissemination of already existing best farming practices could lead to approximately 22% reduction of Lombardy GWP for milk and 37% reduction for pork production. The regional multi-commodity analysis allows to evaluate the mitigation potential of technical measures within each sector as well as to identify mitigation strategies at a territorial level based on structural changes of livestock population.