Trade-off of feasibility against accuracy and cost efficiency in choosing indicators for the abatement of GHG-emissions in dairy farming

There is a broad discussion about the inclusion of agriculture into greenhouse gas reduction efforts, such as the Kyoto mechanism. As most agricultural GHG emissions stem from non-point sources, they cannot be directly measured and therefore have to be derived by calculation schemes (indicators). We designed five such GHG indicators for dairy farms and analysed trade-offs between these indicators´ feasibility, measurement accuracy and abatement costs based on emission reduction simulations with a highly detailed single farm optimization model. Results indicate that the trade-offs depend both on farm characteristics and on the targeted reduction level. In particular, advantages of detailed indicators decrease for higher abatement levels.