Environmental impact of the dairy industry

In recent years, great emphasis has been seen to reduce the environmental footprint of the activities in our daily lives. Food is essential for all life, and its production may have a significant environmental impact if it is not properly monitored. In this chapter the environmental impact associated with the production of dairy products, along with details of the leading method for estimating the impact, life cycle assessment (LCA), is discussed. An overview of LCA studies that assess the environmental impact of dairy products, in a number of countries worldwide, is presented in this chapter. From this analysis, acidification, eutrophication, and global warming potential found to be the three most popular environmental impact categories assessed. In addition, a case study investigating the environmental impact associated with producing fluid milk in the Republic of Ireland is presented. The outcomes from this study not only demonstrated the effectiveness of using a systematical methodology like LCA but also provide key results for fluid milk producers and provide a benchmark for individual producers and processers to compare their performance.