Researchers of NRP 69 have developed an approach for assessing farm environmental performance and applied it to a small sample of dairy farms in mountain regions. Based on their work, they recommend that a distinction be made between the local and global environmental performance of farms, but always taking account of both. In fact, a high global eco-efficiency is often associated with a low local environmental performance, and vice versa. The results show the danger of the one-sided farm environmental performance assessment approaches that are frequently used. The findings also highlight the factors capable of improving both the local and global environmental performance, as well as the economic performance of dairy farms in mountain regions.