Embrapa develops free app to assess dairy farms’ water and manure management
The application, Índice de Desempenho Hídrico da Produção Leiteira (IDH Leite Embrapa), assesses and monitors practices on farms where the milking parlour is washed every day. Its assessment criteria are tailored to the environmental performance of milk production, and it produces PDF reports using information about the day’s operations.
Julio Palhares, an Embrapa researcher who conceived the application, said it was developed to help dairy farmers understand their water-use performance. He said existing environmental assessment applications generally cover several types of livestock production, producing broad responses that offer limited help with decisions. The Embrapa tool is intended to simplify assessments by technical advisers and help users decide how to improve farm processes.
To begin, farmers register information describing their operation. This includes the numbers of lactating cows, dry cows and heifers, as well as total daily milk output and production per cow. The registration also requires information about the farm’s environmental licensing and its authorisation to use water.
Users then answer 35 questions covering three areas: water quantity, water quality and manure management. Their responses produce a score describing the condition of the production system. If the farm falls below the recommended level, the application identifies practices intended to bring its water and manure management up to the minimum required standard.
Palhares said the assessment provides both a picture of current conditions and guidance for improvement. “The tool assesses the current situation and offers a guide for progress. Improvement depends on the willingness of the farmer working with the technical adviser, as well as planning to implement the recommendations,” he said. According to the researcher, the application also helps farmers bring their properties into compliance with environmental legislation and communicate their environmental responsibility to the public.
Palhares described dairy cattle farming as an activity that uses water intensively. He said more environmentally aware consumers now seek information about sustainable production, including how water is used in production processes. In his view, the application gives dairy farms a way to make their environmental practices more transparent.
