Journal
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
Volume 760, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143326
Keywords
Dairy farming; Manure and sewage management; Key pathways; Quantitative typology
Categories
Funding
- Major Program of National Social Science Fund of China [18ZDA048]
- China Agriculture Research SystemGreen Manure [CARS-22-G25]
- China Scholarship Council (CSC)
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The global dairy sector has expanded rapidly, leading to increased production of manure and sewage which have major implications for the environment and human health. Governments are focusing on sustainable manure and sewage management policies. Research shows diverse MSM practices on individual farms pose challenges for sustainability and policy evaluation.
With the greatly increased demand for animal products, the global dairy sector has experienced rapid expansion and intensification. The correspondingly increasing manure and sewage produced has been the major contributor to environmental burden and human health, especially in developing countries like China. Both worldwide environmental concerns and growing awareness of the circular economy have focused the governments' attention on environmental policies related to sustainable manure and sewage management (MSM). However, inherently dynamic decision-making processes of individual farms result in a great diversity of MSM practices, which leads to enormous difficulties and complexity in further sustainability and policy evaluation. Hence, it is essential to explore the key MSM pathways to represent diversity at a scientific and statistic view. While it is rarely practiced, particularly in China's dairy farming. We used China as a case study to develop the key MSM pathways using data from the nationwide survey of 306 scale dairy farms via a quantitative typology methodology. The results by optimal clustering solution revealed four key pathways based on the individual practices which are associated with the collection, storage, and processing and utilization stages. Furthermore, general characteristics were compared to identify potential determinant factors. It revealed that the major indicators such as resource endowments, milk productivity and quality, and revenues and expenditure showed a consistently increasing trend among pathways. The results indicated resource availability and intensive degree, to a certain extent, affected the farmers' selection. The possibilities of performing sustainability and policy evaluation at a higher scale were also demonstrated. Overall, the identified key pathways can help to know regional waste utilization and economic potential to evolve their MSM strategies. They are especially critical for developing countries to obtain typical MSM profiles and formulate targeted policies more effectively, aiming to promote dairy sustainable development and achieve the circular economy globally. (C) 2020 Published by Elsevier B.V.
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