Stakeholder attitude towards sustainability of dairy farming systems: a participatory process

Globally, dairy farming systems are important contributors to the environmental impact of livestock farming. In Italy, the dairy sector represents one third of the economic value of national livestock sector. However, its sustainability level must be addressed in order to match consumers’ concerns and expectations on its interaction with the surrounding ecosystem. The aim of this study, as part of a wider project (PRIN 2022), was to address the perception of different stakeholders about the sustainability of dairy farming systems in Northern Italy. To this aim, we asked stakeholders’ opinions (farmers, retailers, technical assistants, veterinarians, policy makers and teachers at agricultural institutes) through an online survey sent to a representative sample of the supply chain, collecting 73 surveys. The survey was composed in order to collect data on the perception of the stakeholders on the relation between livestock farming and sustainability, the aspects that can be improved in dairy systems, the main problems they are facing, the indicators used to assess dairy farms’ sustainability and, finally, the identification of which type of stakeholders the interviewee represented. In the second step, 3 focus groups were organized in the 3 study areas involved (Veneto, Lombardia, Friuli Venezia Giulia), each of which consisted of a maximum of 10 participants, for a qualitative evaluation of the previously obtained results. The results highlighted that the 3 main strategies to implement in order to increase dairy sector’s sustainability were the following: enhancing manure management, increase animal welfare and increase productive efficiency. On the other hand, the 3 main problems highlighted by the participants concerned the excessive costs, the lack of technical support to apply new management strategies, and the need for motivation. Moreover, results showed the importance of having various types of stakeholders’ point of view to obtain a general understanding of sustainability at landscape level. This way, data on the stakeholders’ perception revealed important information to proceed with the investigation and test of useful indicators to assess the level of sustainability of dairy farming systems. Research supported by PRIN “Looking for the agro-environmental friendly dairy farm: innovative approaches and integration of methodologies for an inclusive definition of sustainability in dairy systems”.