Author(s)

Emiliana Silva^1*, Armando Brito Mendes², Henrique José Duarte Rosa³

¹CEEAplA, Departamento de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade dos Açores, Angra do Heroísmo, Portugal.
²CEEAplA, Departamento de Matemática, Universidade dos Açores, Ponta Delgada, Portugal.
³CITAA, Departamento de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade dos Açores, Angra do Heroísmo, Portugal.

The measure of climate change in dairy farms can be achieved by using the emissions of methane by the ruminants converted in CO2 equivalent (CO2-eq). In order to know the impact of future quotes of methane in the Azorean dairy milk farms, a decision model is built to the Azorean intensive grazing system of dairy farms. Some scenarios of methane levels reductions from 10 to 75% are considered and their impact is evaluated upon dairy farms income, level of CO2-eq emissions and intensity level of grazing system. The results have shown that any reduction of the methane level always implies a consequent decrease in income. If the CO2-eq has to be limited than there is the need to find alternative income activities for farmers in order to preserve economic sustainability.

Climate Change, Dairy, Economic Sustainability, Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Silva, E. , Brito Mendes, A. and Duarte Rosa, H. (2016) Dairy Farming Systems’ Adaptation to Climate Change. Agricultural Sciences, 7, 137-145. doi: 10.4236/as.2016.73013.