Abstract

Excessive phosphorus loading has been identified as the primary cause of decreasing water quality in Lake Champlain. Dairy farms are the major source of phosphorus pollution to the lake and are targeted to reduce phosphorus run-off. The goal of this research is to determine the farm-level financial impact of phosphorus management on different sizes of Vermont dairy farms. Farm financial performance following implementation of manure management is simulated by farm size (60 cows, 150 cows, and 350 cows) over a ten-year time horizon using the Farm Level Income and Policy Simulation Modeling System (FLIPSim). Results indicate that implementation of Milking Waste Management practices have the smallest financial impact on all three farm sizes. For the small farm (60 cows), a liquid manure storage system, once implemented, may slightly increase average annual net cash farm income and reduce the probability of a cash flow deficit after the initial implementation year.

Disciplines

Agribusiness | Agricultural and Resource Economics | Business

Number of Pages

25

Publisher statement

All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies.

COinS
 

URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/agb_fac/83