Forage production in northern latitudes is challenging and uncertain in the future. In this case-study, the integrated farm system model (IFSM) was used to assess the impact of climate change and cropland expansion scenarios on forage production in a dairy farm in Newfoundland, Canada. Climatic projections indicated increases in temperature in the recent past (1990–2016) and under any future climate (2020–2079), thus enhancing agronomic performance. Temperature increases ranged from 2.8 °C to 5.4 °C in winter and from 3.2 °C to 6.4 °C in spring. Small precipitation increases (<10%) create narrower time windows to perform farm operations in the already stringent condition of excess moisture in the region. Results of land use scenarios including expansions of 20, 30, and 40% in cropland area, out of which 5% was dedicated to corn silage and the remainder to grass-legume mixtures, indicated increased yield and total production. Improvements in grass-legume yield ranged from 8% to 52%. The full range of production increases ranged from 11% to 105%. Increments in corn silage yield ranged from 28% to 69%. Total farm corn silage production increases ranged from 29% to 77%. An attainable cropland expansion of 20% would enable the farm to become self-sufficient in forage production under any climate scenario.

Starter mineral fertilizer is used by famers to provide phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) to emerging corn (Zea mays) plants. Recent studies have shown that dairy slurry can replace mineral fertilizer provided it is precisely positioned close to the corn rows. This 5-year study examined the multi-year effect of precision injected sludge, the thick fraction separated from dairy slurry, on growth and nutrient uptake at the 6-leaf stage and final harvest of no-till corn. The sludge was first injected 15 cm deep and the corn planted < 10 cm from the sludge furrow at least 3 days later. Sludge provided sufficient P for both early growth and full season growth. At final harvest with equivalent total N and P rates (32P 250N treatments), fertilizer and sludge had similar maximum yields (17.9 and 17.4 t ha⁻¹, respectively) and P uptake (26 and 25 kg ha⁻¹, respectively) but fertilizer had higher N uptake than sludge (200 and 162 kg ha⁻¹). N uptake and recovery N use efficiency was greater for sludge than fertilizer based on equivalent min.-N which suggests crop benefits in the sludge other than min-N and P. The study shows that precisely injected dairy sludge can obviate the need for starter mineral fertilizer, and this may help to alleviate P surpluses on dairy farms. This practice also provides a use on dairy farms for the separated solids fraction remaining after the thin fraction is decanted and applied as the primary N source to grass.