Estimating Carbon Footprint and Environmentally Adjusted Productivity of Ontario Dairy Farms

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
Authors
Dahal, Bibek
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Guelph
Abstract

Even though the Canadian dairy industry has one of the lowest carbon footprints globally, it still comprises a significant percentage of the total emissions from agriculture. Productivity based on conventional production functions does not account for the socially undesired Greenhouse Gas emitted in dairy farming. Using the input-oriented directional distance function, I estimated the environmentally adjusted efficiency and productivity of Ontario dairy farms from 2000 to 2020. First, I estimated the annual GHG emission from each dairy farm based on the life cycle assessment methodology guidelines suggested by the International Dairy Federation. I found that the carbon footprint for Ontario dairy farms decreased by 14% over the study period. Second, I estimated the standard and environmentally adjusted efficiency and productivity. Productivity growth was decomposed into two sources: efficiency change and technical change. The results indicated that technological change had a higher contribution than efficiency change to overall productivity growth.

Description
Keywords
Environmentally Adjusted Productivity, Dairy Carbon Footprint, Directional technology distance function, Shadow Price of CO2 in dairy
Citation