Greenhouse Gas Emissions of organic and conventional dairy farms in Germany

Summary

The article presents a model to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions of German dairy farms. The model was tested in 12 organic and 12 conventional farms in Southern and Western Germany.
The results show that there is no significant difference between the greenhouse gas emissions per kg milk of the organic and the conventional farms. The lower milk yield of the organic farms is compensated by the lower fossil energy input and the higher carbon sequestration in the fodder production. It can also be seen that a raise of the milk yield from a medium level does not lead to a mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions per kg milk.