GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES: DO DAIRY FARMERS BENEFIT?

The South African dairy industry faces growing pressure to balance production efficiency with environmental, social, and economic sustainability goals. Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs), implemented through the Dairy Standard Agency’s (DSA) Code of Practice for Producers, provide a structured framework to promote sustainable outcomes across various farming systems. The study cited aimed to establish whether and under what circumstances dairy farmers benefit when following GAPs. The study was designed to examine how geographic, operational, and institutional factors—including region, feed regime, herd size, support level, and auditor—influence DSA_GAP compliance and sustainability performance on 152 dairy farms representing the four main production regions. It also compared DSA_GAP Sustainability results with the international designed RISE 3.0 sustainability outcomes.

Data from 152 DSA_GAP sustainability audits and 24 RISE 3.0 assessments conducted on South African dairy farms with herd sizes from 50 to over 1000 lactating cows across seven provinces, grouped into the four main milk-producing regions - Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Regions, and Western Cape- were analysed. Quantitative data were processed using SAS (version 9.4, 2025). Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations were estimated, and general linear models were applied to determine factors influencing sustainability performance.

The results showed that regional context and support frameworks had the most significant impact on Good Agricultural Practice and sustainability outcomes. The results revealed notable regional differences (P< 0.05): the Western Cape consistently achieved the highest average DSA_GAP Sustainability scores (>80% compliance), driven by strong environmental and compliance results, while the Northern Region showed consistently weaker performance (<80% compliance), especially under hybrid feeding systems. Pasture-based systems predominated nationally, but herds using Total Mixed Ration (TMR) systems demonstrated relatively higher risk resilience and economic sustainability (P< 0.05). Herd size significantly affected the overall DSA_GAP sustainability score (P< 0.05), with smaller herds performing poorer than medium and large operations. Farms with structured support from processors or extension services consistently scored significantly (P<0.05) better on overall DSA_GAP sustainability criteria compliance, as well as on the compliance subtheme. Positive correlations between DSA_GAP and RISE 3.0 themes, particularly in environmental-materials (p = 0.05), social responsibility-quality of life (p = 0.022), and working conditions (p = 0.046), indicated a clear alignment between compliance-focused and outcome-based sustainability frameworks.                                                                                                                                                                   

In conclusion: Overall, the study demonstrated that proper GAP implementation plays a vital role in advancing sustainability in the dairy industry, especially when institutional support and region-specific management systems are sustained.