SUSTAINABLE INTENSIFICATION STRATEGIES TO REDUCE COMPETITION FOR LAND, CARBON FOOTPRINT AND NITROGEN SURPLUS IN DAIRY AND CEREAL FARMS

The aim of sustainable intensification is to increase agricultural production while reducing environmental impacts, and it is influenced by several factors, such as the adopted agronomic techniques, genetic improvements, and environmental changes. The need to enhance crop and livestock productivity, while minimizing negative impacts, has become a global priority in response to population growth and climate change. However, agriculture is the main user of land at a global level, it is a source of greenhouse gases emissions, and it involves the input of nutrient elements into ecosystems. Moreover, it has been shown that, in some countries, the production of their main cereal crops has been stagnating, thereby compromising the capacity of these countries to produce enough food and expanding their needs for more agricultural land. The adoption of appropriate mitigation strategies at the farm level is essential to enhance the achievable yield potential of crops and to improve the milk production capacity of animals. The aim of the present PhD dissertation has been to investigate farm-level management strategies in cereal and dairy production systems in northern Italy, in accordance with the principles of sustainable intensification, which promote the reduction of environmental impacts while sustaining or improving agricultural production. The first paper provides new insights into the calculation of on-farm and off-farm occupation of land for milk production. Moreover, the relationship between off-farm land occupation and nitrogen surplus and greenhouse gas emissions has been analyzed. The second paper analyzes the adoption of agronomic and management strategies to increase the sustainability of milk production on conventional and organic dairy farms. The third paper assesses the limitation of nitrogen surplus and the increase of crop yield through the adoption of the best practices to manage forage system on dairy farms in the Po plain. The fourth paper provides insights into how to analyze the maize yield trend in northern Italy by assessing the climate, and genetic and agronomic management practices over time to increase the sustainability of maize production in the Po plain.