Innovative Technology and Sustainable Development of Organic - 1.

3.1. Introduction
Organic dairy farms in Denmark expand in herd size, annual milk yield per cow increases and farmers
are improving efficiency (Kristensen et al., 2005). Introduction of new technology is part of this
development. To save labour costs when suitable labour is scarce, expensive automatic milking
systems (AMS) are being implemented, and information and communication technology (ICT) is used.
AMS use on conventional dairy farms has been subject to evaluation, but first after the year 2000 it
was no longer obstructed by technological inadequacies (Meijering et al., 2004). New technologies are
often contentious and tend to provoke skepticism and need general comprehension before public
acceptance (Meskens and Mathijs, 2002). This can be expected especially for the use of AMS
technology on organic farms, where other principles on areas such as animal health and welfare,
feeding, and marketing have to be addressed, than on conventional farms (Oudshoorn et al., 2008).
Assessment of the AMS use on organic dairy farms was found necessary.
As organic agriculture claims to be a sustainable alternative (Oudshoorn and De Boer, 2005), a
sustainability assessment using a 4-step methodology as defined and applied by Mollenhorst and de
Boer (2004) was used. The 4 steps comprise: (1) definition of the cause of action, (2) identification and
definition of relevant sustainability issues, (3) selection and quantification of sustainability indicators,
(4) assessment of the consequences for sustainable development. Sustainable development has over the
years been accepted as a development that meets the needs of current generations without
compromising future generations. To ensure needs of today and needs and aspirations of future
generations, economic, ecological, and societal issues (EES) should be considered simultaneously (De
Boer and Cornelissen, 2002). For step 1 and 2 of the methodology, a literature survey on sustainability
for conventional farming using AMS, was carried out and scrutinized for organic implementation
(Oudshoorn and De Boer, 2005). Selected organic stakeholders gave their opinion on perceptions of the
use of AMS which supplemented the theoretical selection of EES issues, relevant to assess the
sustainability of organic farms using AMS (Oudshoorn et al., 2008). In order to complete the
sustainability assessment according to the 4-step methodology, sustainability indicators (SI) were
selected for the identified issues. AMS implementation has interdependent consequences at farm level.
The drive to invest often requires higher economic returns, possibly influencing intensity of production
and influencing environmental constraints (Haas et al., 2007). Quantification was performed on farm
basis, so consequences of AMS for a sustainable development, comprising all EES issues, could be
determined. On farm quantification of selected indicators gives the possibility for interdisciplinary
assessment of sustainability (Mollenhorst and De Boer, 2004). The objective of this research, therefore,
was to assess the EES consequences of use of AMS on organic dairy farms, by comparing selected
EES indicators of organic dairy farms using AMS with organic dairy farms using a conventional
milking system (CMS).
3.2 Materials and Methods
3.2.1 Selection of Farms
In 2005, there were 480 active organic dairy farms in Denmark, of which 45 had AMS. Twenty farms
were randomly picked from the organic dairy authorization archive of which 10 used AMS and 10 used
CMS. From each group, 9 farmers responded positively to the request to share performance data and
complete a questionnaire. Beforehand the archive had been filtered, allowing only the Holstein Frisian
(HF) breed (85% of all organic herds in 2005) to be included, in order to avoid breed differences in the
Thesis Frank W. Oudshoorn 41