EVALUATING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF ORGANIC DAIRY FACILITIES USING LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT TOOLS

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: ACTIVE
• Funding Source: OTHER GRANTS
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1027033
• Grant No.: 2021-51106-35492
• Cumulative Award Amt.: $600,000.00
• Proposal No.: 2021-04814
• Project Start Date: Sep 1, 2021
• Project End Date: Aug 31, 2026
• Grant Year: 2021
• Program Code: [112.E]- Organic Transitions

Recipient Organization
UNIV OF WISCONSIN
21 N PARK ST STE 6401
MADISON,WI 53715-1218

Performing Department
Biological Systems Engineering

Non Technical Summary
Organic systems have developed value based on improved sustainability. The organic dairy industry has sustained growth representing a significant portion of all US organic investments. For stakeholders to make informed decisions that impact industry growth, there is need for assessment and quantification of the environmental footprint of organic dairy systems. This project proposes to develop eight life cycle assessment regional models for organic dairy systems in the US. Outputs will provide baseline farm level environmental impact data on global warming potential (greenhouse gas emissions), eutrophication potential (nutrient losses), ammonia emissions, and resource depletion (energy, water, and land use) for numerous farm types across the eight regions. Models will be used to evaluate potential mitigation strategies to inform stakeholders of practices with high environmental mitigation potential and recommend those strategies for targeted outcomes (i.e., emissions reductions strategies). Researchers will also explore critical modeling assumptions that significantly impact environmental outcomes of organic dairy systems including selection of enteric methane predictive equations, allocation strategies, and methods used to quantify the global warming potential of methane. The outcomes from this objective will allow researchers making recommendations for methodological standardization and improved comparisons between studies. Project output will be used to inform stakeholders of pathways to improve environmental sustainability through extension and outreach channels as well as a critical relationship with Organic Valley. This work addresses priority two of the Organic Transition program by developing models to document ecosystems services from organic dairy with emphasis on climate change mitigation pathways of integrated livestock-cropping systems.

Animal Health Component

85%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

10%

Applied

85%

Developmental

5%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
307	3450	2020	100%

Knowledge Area
307 - Animal Management Systems;

Subject Of Investigation
3450 - Milk;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering;

Keywords

environmental impacts

life cycle assessment

organic dairy

Goals / Objectives
This work aims to build upon an existing farm scale LCA model for organic dairies to evaluate sustainability metrics that can be used to guide on-farm practice implementation targeting reductions in environmental impacts related to global warming potential (greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration), ammonia emissions, resource depletion (energy, land, and water use), and eutrophication (nutrient losses).Specific objectives include:Expand existing regional LCA models of organic dairy farms to cover the continental US for the environmental impacts of global warming potential (greenhouse gas emission and carbon sequestration), ammonia emissions, resource depletion (energy, land, and water use), and eutrophication (nutrient losses). Currently models have been developed for the Midwest/Great Lakes, New England, California, and Pacific Northwest regions. This work aims to develop additional regional LCA models using the developed framework for the Northeast, Mideast, Southwest, and Mountain regions to ensure all locations in the continental US have representative models to provide environmental impact data for all representative organic dairy systems.Assess environmental impacts of specific management practices in all US regions using the developed LCA modeling tools. This includes the identification and development of key variables that may be different for organic farms than previously modeled conventional farms (e.g., feed efficiency, replacement rate, diet composition) not currently available in the literature.Evaluate LCA methods to quantify environmental impact estimations, specifically enteric methane predictive equations, nitrous oxide emission factors from manure in pastures, allocation strategies, and methodologies for calculating the global warming potential of methane as they are important to the total estimations for greenhouse gas emissions from organic dairy farms.Develop extension materials and coordinate outreach activities. This includes developing fact sheets and other materials for each region. Researchers will also work with industry stakeholders to increase practice implementation and therefore environmental outcomes.

Project Methods
The proposed methods are detailed by objective below. Each objective includes the relevant scientific procedures, preliminary data, stakeholder engagement, and expected outcomes.Objective 1:LCA models were developed specifically for organic dairy systems at the University of Wisconsin-Madison by co-PI Aguirre-Villegas with the input from Organic Valley, a Cooperative of organic dairy producers and other university researchers. The US was divided into eight representative regions based on farm design and management practices using survey data and regional climate data. Regional models were developed to capture the effects of regionally specific environmental conditions and representative farm types and practices. To estimate these regional effects, data on environmental conditions, such as temperature and precipitation (collected from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), emissions from the electric grid (from the US Energy Information Administration) and energy matrix (from the US Department of Energy), crop yields and irrigation (from USDA-NASS national surveys), are collected from each state and averaged for each region based on the number of farms/milk production on each state. It is important to capture these differences as they are directly related to environmental impacts.In addition, it is important to evaluate the different practices adopted by the farm as they interact with environmental conditions. It is also common for many farms to select management and farm designs that fit their specific needs, and these practices are generally common to a region. This division allows for more accurate representation of organic dairy environmental impacts across the US.Each regional model tracks a variety of inputs through the system and allocates them to outputs that include milk, meat, and emissions (or losses) to the environment. The system boundaries for the LCA include all processing steps needed to produce milk on the farm. For this LCA, the functional unit is 1 kg (2.2 pounds) of fat and protein corrected milk (FPCM), adjusted to 4% fat and 3.3% protein. In each region, farm published data, survey data, expert and stakeholder opinion can be used to identify the most common practices for modeling purposes. Each location identified then requires detailed data collection for all model inputs needed to produce milk (starting from the extraction of natural resources to produce all energy and material inputs used by the farm until milk is produced at the farm gate). Inputs used by organic farms to be included in this assessment are water, energy (gasoline, propane, natural gas, fuel oil, diesel, and electricity) and materials (fertilizers, feed supplements, seeds, bedding, etc.). After identifying these inputs, inventory data is developed based on how much of each input is consumed at each farm layout and the emissions resulting from producing and consuming those inputs at the farm.Emission data from energy and materials will be generated with the SimaPro LCA Software (Pre-Consultants bv 2019). Biotic emissions, from the animals and manure management, are estimated with a series of process-based models and emission factors that relate management practices with environmental factors and physical characteristics of each system. A similar approach will be used to assess additional environmental impact categories for all regions and farm systems designs including resource depletion (including fossil energy, water use, and land use), and eutrophication potential. Besides emission sources, there are emission sinks in the form of carbon sequestration at organic farms as they rely mostly on grazing and forages for cow feed.For this project, the developed regional models using the detailed methodologies above will be expanded to cover all regions of the US, and the regional models further expanded to include additional functional units. This development will allow for environmental assessment of all regions in the US with organic dairy production.Objective 2.Farm management practices are the critical components of the system that producers can control to mitigate their environmental impacts. Using the models developed the environmental impacts of alternative management practices will be explored to determine their mitigation potential in all impact categories. These changes will be modeled to identify practices with the greatest mitigation potential with respect to the baseline environmental impacts developed in objective 1and to evaluate if there are any trade-offs between environmental impact categories.This information can be used to guide design or management changes to achieve specific environmental outcomes and allow for quantification of those outcomes and to develop and track progress for mitigation targets.Objective 3.Among some of the most important of these decisions are the selection of models to predict enteric methane emissions, the allocation strategies used to partition environmental impacts between milk and meat, the selection of models or factors predicting nitrous oxide emissions from manure excreted on pastures, and more recently, the methods for quantifying the global warming potential of methane. For this study:In this work we propose to evaluate a variety of enteric methane predictive equations to determine the range of outcomes and the data requirements and interpretative ability to inform users of farm level interventions.This study will conduct a thorough literature review on nitrous oxide emissions from manure deposited on pastures and model alternative factors to the one suggested by the IPCC based on literature findings. The range of emission factors will be documented, logical bounds applied based on expert opinion, and the impact of this range provided using a sensitivity analysis. The results of this work will be able to provide insight of the importance of this variable and importance of further field research if needed.This study will apply different allocation strategies and clearly detail the methods used to assign the environmental impacts between milk and meat. It is important to analyze these different methods for transparency purposes and to facilitate the replication of the study and comparison to other studies evaluating the impacts of dairy systems. It is also important to show how results can vary based on these decisions, as the results from these types of studies might serve as the basis for local or regional environmental plans and targets.We will assess a proposed GWP* method which states that methane from biotic sources does not behave the same as methane from fossil sources.This study will assess the feasibility of including this method in environmental impact assessments of organic dairy farms and the overall impacts in the analyzed scenarios.Objective 4.Materials from this work will be directly translated to a variety of extension and outreach materials for use by stakeholders. The PIs have extension positions and will include the outcomes of this work in their outreach efforts beyond industry to other stakeholders such as producers, policymakers, and the public. This includes developing peer-reviewed extension materials and presentations to a wide number of stakeholders. The information will be translated for industry stakeholders including an existing partnership with Organic Valley and PI Silva's existing extension network for organic production including Westby Creamery, Stonyfield, and the Organic Trade Association Dairy Council. The information will be developed to be able to guide industry partners into making targeted reduction strategies for their milk production and to make direct practice recommendations to their producers through their sustainability initiatives.

Progress 09/01/24 to 08/31/25

Outputs
Target Audience:We worked directly with Organic Valley to develop practices to be supported by dairy farmers that reduce environmental impacts, particularly emissions, and Organic Valley has begun to fund implementation of these practices (with an emphasis on manure management). We also worked to provide information to a variety of organic audiences to understand the implications of various dairy management practices on the environment, providing science-based data on a variety of management practices to guide selection for specific dairy circumstances. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results have been shared extensively with stakeholders. This includes Organic Valley as well as other producers engaged through various outreach events. The model/data has also been submitted to SustainCert and certified to provide outside validation of methods. The information is now being integrated to support practice implementation and reporting on environmental impacts of organic dairy producers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?1. Complete additional modeling on low-cost manure management practices to improve producer and environmental outcomes. 2. Complete additional modeling that projects forward the impact of integrating specific practices on the impact of organic dairy in the US.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1. Completed the LCA for all regions in the U.S., and a papercovering the additional regions is now published. This completes modeling for all regions of the U.S. Objective complete. Although complete, we have decided to compile all US data for a future looking paper that assesses projected impact with improvements to dairy management. 2. We have completed the assessment of management practices for mitigation for all regions and have included this information in the papers published. Objective complete. With ongoing discussions with stakeholders, they would like even more practices modeled so we have prioritized expanding modeling even more manure mitigation practices over the last year of the project to be included in assessment tools. 3. We have completed this assessment in the regions modeled around the U.S. and included the results in the paper that is in review. Most significant finding is that modeling choices have as much if not greater impact on the greenhouse gas emissions accounting than the actual practices used highlighting the importance of standard accounting methods. Objective complete. 4. We have developed a number of fact sheets. We also continue to serve stakeholders by providing Organic Valley with information to support their producers in implementing the greenhouse gas mitigation practices outlined, (e.g., additional modeling on bedded packs and composting, additional information on evaluating manure separation systems), we meet monthly with Organic Valley representatives to ensure continued dialogue and support. We also participate in numerous producer and industry conferences and meetings to share project output as well as get guidance on project direction. We have also been working with a variety of industry partners that are looking to integrate the data into their sustainability plans/metrics, this includes adjusting output to meet stakeholder needs for accounting format. We have decided to move forward with an expansion of this project with Organic Valley to begin to develop a tool specifically for organic dairy farmers that better allows them to assess their environmental footprint to receive payment for improved practices.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2025 Citation: Aguirre-Villegas HA, Larson RA, Rakobitsch N, Wattiaux MA, Silva E. 2025. Modeling ammonia and greenhouse gas emissions from dairy manure management in organic dairy farms. Presented at the Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Community (LPELC) Waste to Worth Conference April 7-11, 2025, Boise, Idaho. https://lpelc.org/modeling-ammonia-and-greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-dairy-manure-management-in-organic-dairy-farms/
• Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Aguirre-Villegas, H.A., N. Rakobitsch, M.A. Wattiaux, E. Silva, & R.A. Larson. 2024. Environmental assessment of organic dairy farms in the US: Mideast, northeast, southeast, and mountain regions. Cleaner Environmental Systems, 15, 100233. 10.1016/j.cesys.2024.100233

Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience included organic dairy producers who are looking to improve sustainability metrics, particularly thoseimplementing the practices recommended to reduce GHG emissions, industry partners particularly Organic Valley to guide industry GHG reduction targets and strategies for mitigation, and policymakers to inform on potential for emissions mitigation in organic systems. We also targeted other researchers to inform them on organic dairy practices and modeling as well as producer tools to help guide tool development that assess GHGs to include organic practices. Finally, we targeted businesses that work in certifying sustainable practices in industry and other industries that have reached out in the extended industry using dairy products as they are interested in integrating the outputs into their sustainability planning. We also won an award highlighting the impact of our research. 2024 Most Impactful Organic Research Finding Winner, Organic Oscars Natural Products Expo West, Anaheim, CA, March 14, 2024 Hosted by The Organic Center and Organic Voices Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A graduate student has been trained on the project, Caleb Besson, in Agricultural Engineering learning extensive modeling skills and critical information on organic dairy production systems as well as working with a stakeholder team. The student has successfully defended their M.S. thesis and is now graduated (Summer 2024 graduation). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results have been shared extensively with stakeholders. This includes Organic Valley as well as other producers engaged through various outreach events. A surprising aspect of the project has been the interest from sustainability teams at companies who use dairy products and their interest in engaging and integrating data into their sustainability planning. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We have outlined a number of priorities for the next year: 1. Submit the graduate student work on accounting tools for organic dairies for peer review and publication as well as share results with stakeholders. 2. Complete additional modeling on bedded pack systems. 3. Complete additional modeling (and publish a paper) expanding the assessment of mitigation practices in more detail and including a sensitivity analysis. 4. Complete LCA modeling with expanded system boundaries relevant to organic dairy production systems including: renewable energy production and sale additional animal types additional crop production

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1. Completed the LCA for all regions in the U.S. A paper covering the additional regions is currently under review. Complete! 2. We have completed the assessment of management practices for mitigation for all regions and have included this information in the paper being published. Wtth ongoing discussions with stakeholders, they would like even more practices modeled so we have prioritized expanding modeling even more mitigation practices over the next year. 3. We have completed this assessment in the regions modeled around the U.S. and included the results in the paper that is in review. Most significant finding is that modeling choices have as much if not greater impact on the greenhouse gas emissions accounting than the actual practices used highlighting the importance of standard accounting methods. 4. We continue to serve stakeholders by providing Organic Valley with information to support their producers in implementing the greenhouse gas mitigation practices outlined, (e.g., additional modeling on bedded packs and composting, additional information on evaluating manure separation systems), we meet monthly with Organic Valley representatives to ensure continued dialogue and support. We alsoparticipatein numerous producer and industry conferences and meetings to share project output as well as get guidance on project direction.We have also been working with a variety of industry partners that are looking to integrate the data into their sustainability plans/metrics, this includes adjusting output to meet stakeholder needs for accounting format.

Publications

• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Besson, Caleb. 2024. EVALUATION OF STAKEHOLDER TOOLS, COMET-FARM AND COOL FARM TOOL, TO ESTIMATE GREENHOUSE GAS (GHG) EMISSIONS FROM ORGANIC DAIRY SYSTEMS. Masters Thesis Submitted to the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Larson, R.A. 2024. Managing Manure for the Climate. Marbleseed 35th Annual Organic Farming Conference, February 22-24, 2024 La Crosse, WI.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Besson, C, H.A. Aguirre-Villegas, and Larson, R.A. 2024. Evaluating stakeholder tools, COMET-Farm & Cool Farm Tool, to estimate GHG emissions from organic dairy systems. Marbleseed 35th Annual Organic Farming Conference, February 22-24, 2024 La Crosse, WI.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Aguirre-Villegas, H., R.A. Larson, and C. Besson. 2023. Ammonia emissions inventory of different management practices and dairy farm settings. 2023 North American Manure EXPO, August 9 & 10, 2023, Arlington, WI.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Horacio A. Aguirre-Villegas, Nicole Rakobitsch, Michel A. Wattiaux, Erin Silva, Rebecca A. Larson. 2024. Environmental Assessment of Organic Dairy Farms in the US: Mideast, Northeast, Southeast, and Mountain Regions. Cleaner Environmental Systems, In Review.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: 2024 Most Impactful Organic Research Finding Winner, Organic Oscars Natural Products Expo West, Anaheim, CA, March 14, 2024 Hosted by The Organic Center and Organic Voices

Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience included organic producers who were implementing the practices recommended to reduce GHG emissions, industry partners particularly Organic Valley to guide industry GHG reduction targets and strategies for mitigation, and policymakers to inform on potential for emissions mitigation in organic systems. We also targeted other researchers to inform them on organic dairy practices and modeling as well as producer tools to help guide tool development that assess GHGs to include organic practices. Finally, we targeted businesses that work in certifying sustainable practices in industry. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A graduate student is learning the LCA models, as well as stakeholder models, and learning research connection to industry and stakeholder needs. He has also presented numerous posters on the data. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Yes! We have presented at many conferences and worked directly with Organic Valley to integrate practices in a regular basis. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We have monthly meetings with stakeholders and also have been engaging with other organic projects (one specific project based out of NY). These connections have proven very useful in guiding next steps. With the models complete this calendar year (the major chunk of this work) we can then focus the last year on really evaluating practices, and integrating needs from stakeholders.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1. Currently models have been developed for the Midwest/Great Lakes, New England, California, Pacific Northwest, Mideast, and Northeast. We have completed databases of organic dairy farms types for all regions in the U.S.(the most time consuming component).We are working to complete the Southwest, and Mountain regions currently (end of calendar year goal) and that will complete all modeling requirements. Plans are to publish these in the coming months. 2. We have developed some of these practices in the above models from objective one. In 2024, with the models complete we plan to expand this based on the information of practices received from stakeholders including Organic Valley. 3. This work is planned for 2024. 4. We developed three fact sheets on ammonia emissions that include organic dairy systems. We have also worked with Organic valley to integrate practices into existing farms to mitigate GHG emissions. We have had numerous presentations around the country and have had an overwhelming interest from industry partners on the information, we are working to provide as much information as we can to those who can integrate practices to drive outcomes of GHG reduction.A grad student has also been modeling the farms from Obj. 1 in cool farm tool and comet to provide ends users feedback on tools and to give tool designers critical information to improve estimates for organic dairies.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Aguirre-Villegas, H.A., R.A. Larson, N. Rakobitsch, M.A. Wattiaux, & E. Silva. 2022. Farm Level Environmental Assessment of Organic Dairy Systems in the U.S. Journal of Cleaner Production, 363. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.132390
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Aguirre-Villegas, H.A., C. Besson, & R.A. Larson. 2023. Modeling ammonia emissions from manure in conventional, organic, and grazing dairy systems and practices to mitigate emissions. Journal of Dairy Science, https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2023-23782
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Besson, C.R., H.A. Aguirre-Villegas, & R.A. Larson. 2022. Sources and Impacts of Ammonia Emissions. University of Wisconsin-Extension, Publication No. A4192-010, I-11-2022.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Besson, C.R., H.A. Aguirre-Villegas, & R.A. Larson. 2022. Ammonia Emissions from Manure Systems on Dairy Farms in Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin-Extension, Publication No. A4192-011, I-12-2022.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Besson, C.R., H.A. Aguirre-Villegas, & R.A. Larson. 2023. Mitigating Ammonia Emissions using Dairy Manure Management Practices. University of Wisconsin-Extension, Publication No. A192-12, I-02-2023.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Larson, R.A., H.A. Aguirre-Villegas, N. Rakobitsch, M.A. Wattiaux, & E. Silva. Environmental Assessment and Carbon Sequestration Potential of Organic Dairy Systems in the U.S. 2023 Minnesota Organic Conference, January 6, 2023 St. Cloud Minnesota.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Aguirre-Villegas, H.A. 2022. Green House Gas Emissions on Organic Dairy. University of Vermont Extension Webinar Series, March 2, 2022.

Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this reporting period has been researchers and the organic dairy industry. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A graduate student had begun to learn to develop life cycle assessment models for organic dairy systems. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have been working with Organic Valley and are exporing working with the Danone. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We are planning to complete the expansion of the regional assessments. This will allow us to publish the entire LCA model for the U.S., then we can start the followup assessments in later years.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Currently models have been developed for the Midwest/Great Lakes, New England, California, and Pacific Northwest regions. This work aims to develop additional regional LCA models using the developed framework for the Northeast, Mideast, Southwest, and Mountain regions to ensure all locations in the continental US have representative models to provide environmental impact data for all representative organic dairy systems. ACCOMPLISHMENTS: We have begun to expand the work to additional regions within the United States beginning with the MidEast. The remaining regions are to be completed over the next year. ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Will be completed after the regional expansion is complete. Have developed a list of practices with Organic Valley to evaluate. ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Will be completed after the regional expansion is complete. ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Will be completed after the regional expansion is complete. Impact-Organic systems have developed value based on improved sustainability. The organic dairy industry has sustained growth representing a significant portion of all US organic investments. For stakeholders to make informed decisions that impact industry growth, there is need for assessment and quantification of the environmental footprint of organic dairy systems. This project proposes to develop regional life cycle assessment models for organic dairy systems to provide environmental impact data on global warming potential (greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration), eutrophication potential (nutrient losses), ammonia emissions, and resource depletion (energy, water, and land use) for numerous farm types across the entire US. This data can then be used to help develop a pathway to improved sustainability, guide producers in developing mitigation strategies and sustainability investments, provide scientific support for policymakers in developing sustainable initiatives and regulations, guide industry targeted environmental standards and reduction metrics, and finally provide scientific data for consumers to make product comparisons. This project will not only seek to produce meaningful research output for stakeholders but will also explore critical modeling assumptions that significantly impact environmental outcomes of organic dairy systems including selection of enteric methane predictive equations, allocation strategies, quantifying nitrous oxide emissions from manure deposited on pastures, and methods used to quantify the global warming potential of methane. Outcomes of these research methodology objectives will allow researchers to make informed recommendations for methodological standardization of environmental impacts from organic dairy and improved comparisons between studies in the future. Project output will be used to inform stakeholders of pathways to improve environmental sustainability through extension and outreach channels as well as a critical relationship with Organic Valley to develop targeted emissions reductions strategies.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2022 Citation: 4.Aguirre-Villegas, H.A., R.A. Larson, N. Rakobitsch, M.A. Wattiaux, & E. Silva. 2022. The Role of Manure for Dairy Carbon Neutrality Targets: An Environmental Assessment of Organic Farms. Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Community Waste to Worth 2022: International Conference on Livestock and Poultry Environmental Quality, April 19-22, 2022, Maumee, OH.