Classifying and explaining Walloon dairy farms in terms of sustainable food security using a multiple criteria decision making method

Abstract

Land intensive grass-based dairy systems have the highest contribution to food security but may have a higher impact on the environment. The aim of this study was to classify dairy farms in terms of sustainable contribution to food security and analyze the farm characteristics related to these performances. To this end, we performed a sustainability assessment by calculating 17 indicators using FADN data of 209 Walloon (Belgium) dairy farms. Using the Analytical Hierarchy Process, 25 stakeholders of the Walloon milk upstream sector defined preference weights for the indicators. Farms were ranked using ELECTRE III using the mean weights for the dairy sector and grouped in four sustainability groups. A canonical discriminant analysis was performed on farm characteristics. Farm characteristics that negatively impact sustainability are the use of maize silage, the use of concentrates and the CP-content of these concentrates, the farm size, and the number of female followers per cow. The farm characteristic that positively impacts sustainability is the grassland yield. Milk production per cow, age at first calving, and calving interval have a negligible effect on sustainability. These results suggest that feed conversion efficiency is not a main driver of sustainability but rather that specific production means and practices play a more significant role in determining sustainability. Consequently, we argue that the search for efficiency that has been promoted to increase the sustainability of food systems should be placed in a systemic perspective in order to avoid trade-offs with other aspects and that, in general, an increase in efficiency is positively linked with sustainability when achieved through knowledge and technicity rather than by the addition of external inputs.