Assessing the environmental impacts of production- and consumption-side measures in sustainable agriculture intensification in the European Union

Abstract

Sustainable agricultural intensification (SI) is an important strategy to respond to the combined challenge of achieving food security and providing public goods and ecosystem services to society, including mitigation and adaptation of climate change. Sustainable intensification includes a wide range of measures at both the supply and demand-side of agricultural production. However, currently, it is unclear what are the most effective and priority measures. This study assesses the potential of different SI measures for reducing GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions and increasing land use efficiency in the European Union's agriculture sector. A scenario approach was combined with life cycle analysis to quantify the environmental impacts of a number of different SI measures. The sustainable intensification measures assessed in this study are: 1) changing human diet; 2) using food waste in livestock diets; 3) shifting from monoculture cropping to crop rotation, and, 4) incorporating crop residues into the soil. The results reveal that the studied SI measures have the potential to increase land use savings, ranging from 0.06 to 3.32 m 2 /person/day, while GHG emission savings ranging from 71 to 1872 g CO 2-eq/ person/day can be achieved at EU level. Among these SI measures, changing human diet showed a remarkably high reduction of environmental impacts. On the contrary, increased GHG emission savings in the other SI measures (i.e. crop residue incorporation in the field and replacing soybean meal in conventional feed by food waste-based feed) are counter effected by increased GHG emissions in the energy sector due to reduction of feedstock availability for bioenergy production. The approach used in this study allows the assessment of both the production and consumption-side SI measures and allows the identification of the most effective SI measures and their potential trade-offs.

Co-benefits from sustainable dietary shifts for population and environmental health: an assessment from a large European cohort study

“…Overall, adhering to the EAT-Lancet reference diet seems to be beneficial for reducing all-cause mortality and cancer while mutually reducing greenhouse gas emissions and land use; this is particularly concerning for Europe's local environmental impacts, where agricultural production is among the most intensive in the world. 28 Our study had various limitations. Greenhouse gas emissions and land use estimates were based on selfreported country-specific dietary questionnaires that are, like any dietary intake assessment, prone to measurement error (eg, under-reporting) and potential misclassification.…”

“…Overall, adhering to the EAT– Lancet reference diet seems to be beneficial for reducing all-cause mortality and cancer while mutually reducing greenhouse gas emissions and land use; this is particularly concerning for Europe's local environmental impacts, where agricultural production is among the most intensive in the world. 28 …”

Vineyard and Olive Orchard Management to Maintain Yield and Quality Under Abiotic Stress Conditions

“…In 2018, the global production of table olives was estimated in 1.8 × 10 6 tons (EU 0.9 × 10 6 ) and 3.1 × 10 6 tons of olive oil (EU 2.2 × 10 6 ), representing a trade value of 2.8 × 10 6 euros for olive oil (EU 2.1 million euros) [2]. These figures render the importance of fruit production on a global scale that is likely to increase in the near future in tandem with larger demand for food, fiber, and fuel as a result of growing population, change in dietary preferences, and bioenergy policies [4]. The food demand driven by a larger and more affluent population challenges the agricultural systems to increase the output with reduced external inputs and minimal environmental impacts [5,6] all under more difficult environmental conditions given the forecasts of an increased temperatures and more irregular rainfalls that negatively affect agriculture [7], and the Southern Europe will be strongly affected where yield losses and impaired product quality are expected [8,9].…”

The Impact of Microclimate Parameters on Odour Emissions from Pig Production in Spring

“…Activity in this sector is associated with a negative impact on the environment. Intensive livestock farming causes many serious threats, which are not limited only to the farming area [1,2]. One of them is the odour emission.…”