The MilKey platform constitutes an important tool to display project results for exploitation. It is an educational and informative platform implemented on the web that aims to provide information to several stakeholders (e.g. dairy cattle farmers, farmers’ advisors, politicians, and consumers) about key elements to assess and achieve sustainability in dairy cattle production systems (DPS). The results presented derive from different elements of the MilKey project. The platform aims to become a long-lasting multi-actor knowledge hub to increase the level of knowledge and understanding of stakeholders regarding sustainability in dairy cattle production systems.
The main function of the current version of the MilKey platform is the user’s introduction to the sustainability assessment approach that was used in the context of the MilKey project. This approach covers all three sustainability dimensions, i.e., environmental, social, and economic. The platform currently includes the agreed methodologies for economic, environmental, and social sustainability assessment in dairy cattle farms in order to provide the user, with the relevant types of indicators, emphasizing the whole systems’ approach. Two methodologies for sustainability assessment are currently presented in the MilKey platform: a) the DEXi method which estimates indicators in all 3 sustainability pillars and b) the SimsDairy method which emphasizes the environmental sustainability pillar but is currently used for examining the effects of mitigation measures on the emissions of DPS. Regarding the DEXi method, the platform includes in detail all three-pillar sustainability indicators, the way they are estimated, and the rationale behind the definition of performance levels for each indicator. More details are provided in Sustainability Assessment DEXi”.
Moreover, the current version of the platform provides the user the ability to test the effect of various suggested mitigation strategies on the emission of greenhouse gases (methane and nitrous oxide) and other nitrogen emissions (ammonia, nitrogen oxides, and nitrate) in comparison to a baseline scenario for a dairy cattle production system in Europe (SimsDairy method). It further allows the user to test the effect of the relative weights of the three sustainability pillars on the total sustainability score in a number of selected case study dairy cattle farming systems in different European countries (DEXi method). The platform finally includes a small chapter with information about the Online Tool for monitoring Indoor barn Climate, animal stress, and Emission levels of air pollutants (OTICE) which was developed for dairy cattle barns in the context of the MilKey project.