Modelling direct field nitrogen emissions using a semi-mechanistic leaching model newly implemented in Indigo-N v3

Bockstaller, Christian; Galland, Victor; Avadí, Ángel

doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2022.110109

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…These models have been reviewed in (Andrade et al, 2021) for their robustness and applicability in LCA, among other characteristics, and the practitioner can decide which is more suitable for their case. Indigo v3.0 (Bockstaller et al, 2022) is another model that looks at all types of emissions from fertilizers (N, P, K and HMs). It takes into account crop, climate and soil characteristics, mineral and organic fertilizer characteristics, and a wide range of organic fertilizers and their nutrient content at the global scale, making it more versatile than SALCA and the model used by AG, as they are only applicable in Switzerland and France.…”

Section: Plant Protection Product Inventory Improvementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environmental impact accounting of organic agricultural production systems: advancing inventory and biodiversity modelling approaches in life cycle assessment

Montemayor

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(English) griculture is a majar contribular to global greenhouse gas emissions, anthropogenic nitrogen emissions anda direct danger to threatened terrestrial species. Organic agriculture has been proposed as a possible solution to reduce environmental impacts dueto agricultura! practices, since it prioritizes environmental protection and animal welfare considerations, prioritizing preventative techniques in arder to preserve ecosystems and resources. In Europe, it has been legallydefined as method offarming since 1991. Organic agriculture has been found to be similar or superior to conventional agriculture in terms ofenvironmental performance, using the internationallystandardized methodologycalled Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). 11 follows alife cycle perspective and is widelyused dueto its holistic vision, including both the whole production chain concept and multi-criteria environmental indicators, as well as its quantitative, scientific approach to estimating environmental impacts. However, LCAdoes not always fully reflect organic production systems accurately, leaving out importani aspects such as ecosystem services like biodiversity. Thus, research was carried aullo explore how LCAcan be improved in arder to accurately and comprehensively account for the environmental impact of organic agricultura! systems. Firstly, life cycle inventory (LCI) dataseis from current and recommended LCA databas es were critically analyzed to see if they accurately reflect organic practices. Secondly, curren! and recommended life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) biodiversity loss models were also analyzed and tested using a livestock case studyfor their scope and context suitability. Finally, using the results from that analysis, a model was chosen to develop new LCIAcharacterization factors for potential disappeared fraction of plants dueto organic crop land use compared to conventional crops in the European Mediterranean biome. Through the critica! analysis of organic crop LCI dataseis, it was found that unrepresentative plant protection product (PPP) production and organic fertilizer treatment inventaries were the main limitations in background processes, dueto either the lack of available usage statistics, exclusion from the study or use of unrepresentative proldes. Many organic crop LCls used synthetic pesticide or mineral fertilizer proldes, which may indirectlycontain OA prohibited chemicals. These critica! aspects can be transferred to respective LCAs that use this data, potentiallyyielding unrepresentative results. To improve accuracy, new production LCls were created for three PPPs, as well as recommendations for fertilizer treatment LCls and more precise emission models for PPPs and fertilizers. In regards to biodiversityloss indicators, the currently recommended top-down indicator was found to be inadequate for site specific agricultura! practices like organic farming, dueto the inabilityofthe characterization factors to significantly differentiate between light and minimal management intensity and pasture and cropland in our case study. Whereas the bottom-up model was found to be more suitable dueto its site-specificity. Recommendations were given on how to improve the studied biodiversity LCIA models. The new LCIA characterization factors estimating PDF of planIs, demonstrated that the potential plan! species loss on perennial woodyorganic cropland could not be differentiated from their conventional counterparts if the conventional system was quite extensive, but were significantlydifferent in intensive systems. Further sub classes of conventional perennial woody crop systems should be made. Significan! differences were found between CFs for organic and conventional arable crop systems. This thesis provides for the first time, novel critica! analysis of organic crop LCls, new LCls for PPP manufacturing, and testing and guidance on the use ofdifferenttop-down and bottom-up biodiversityLCIAmodels.Additionally... (Català) L'agricultura contribueix de manera important a les emissions globals de gasos d'efecte hivernacle, les emissions de nitrogen antropogènic i és un perill directe pera les espècies terrestres amenaçades. L'agricultura ecològica s'ha proposat com una possible solució per reduir els impactes ambientals deguts a les pràctiques agrícoles, ja que prioritza les consideracions de protecció ambiental i benestar animal, prioritzant les tècniques preventives per tal de preservar ecosistemes i recursos. A Europa es defineix legalment coma mètode de cultiu des de l'any 1991. S'ha trobat que !'agricultura ecològica és similar o superior a !'agricultura convencional pel que fa al rendiment ambiental, utilitzant la metodologia estandarditzada internacionalment anomenada Avaluació del Cicle de Vida (ACV, o LCA en les seves sigles en anglès). LCA segueix una perspectiva de cicle de vida i s'utilitza àmpliament perla seva visió holística, que inclou tant el concepte de la cadena de producció com els indicadors ambientals multicriteris, així com el seu enfocament científic i quantitatiu per estimar els impactes ambientals. Tanmateix, la LCA no sempre reflecteix completament els sis temes de producció orgànica amb precisió, deixant de banda aspectes importants com els serveis ecosistèmics com la biodiversitat. Així, es va dura terme una investigació per explorar com es pot millorar la LCA per tal de tenir en compte de manera precisa i exhaustiva !'impacte ambiental deis sis temes agrícoles orgànics. En primer lloc, es van analitzar críticament els conjunts de dades d'inventari de cicle de vida (ICVo LCI en les seves sigles en anglès) de les bases de dades de LCA actuals i recomanades per veure si reflecteixen amb precisió les pràctiques orgàniques. En segon lloc, també es van analitzar i provar els models de pèrdua de biodiversitat actuals i recomanats de l'avaluació d'impacte del cicle de vida (AICVo LCIAen les seves sigles en anglès) mitjan,;;ant un estudi de cas de bestiar pel seu abast i adequació al context. Finalment, utilitzant els resultats d'aquesta anàlisi, es va escollir un model per desenvolupar nous factors de caracterització LCIA pera la possible fracció de plantes desapareguda a causa de l'ús del sol de cultius orgànics en comparació amb els cultius convencionals al bioma mediterrani europeu. Mitjançant l'anàlisi crítica deis conjunts de dades d'LCI de cultius orgànics, es va trobar que la producció no representativa de productes fitosanitaris (PPP) i els inventaris de tractament de fertilitzants orgànics eren les principals limitacions en els processos de fans, a causa de la manca d'estadístiques d'ús disponibles, l'exclusió de l'estudi o ús de proxies no representatius. rv1olts LCI de cultius orgànics utilitzaven pesticides sintètics o fertilitzants minerals substitutius, que poden contenir indirectament productes químics prohibits per OA Aquests aspectes crítics es poden transferir a les respectives LCA que utilitzen aquestes dades, la qual cosa pot produir resultats poc representatius. Per millorar la precisió, es van crear nous LCI de producció pera tres PPP, així com recomanacions per als LCI de tractament de fertilitzants i models d'emissió més precisos pera PPP i fertilitzants. Pel que fa als indicadors de pèrdua de biodiversitat, l'indicador top-down recomanat actualment és inadequat pera pràctiques agrícoles especifiques del lloc com !'agricultura ecològica, a causa de la incapacitat dels factors de caracterització per diferenciar significativament entre la intensitat de gestió lleugera i mínima i les pastures i les !erres de cultiu en el nostre cas pràctic. Mentre que el model bottom-up es va trobar més adequat a causa de la seva especificitat del lloc. Es van donar recomanacions sobre com millorar els models LCIA de biodiversitat estudiats. Els nous factors de caracterització LCIA que estimaven el PDF de les plantes, van demostrar que la pèrdua potencial d'espècies vegetals a les terres de cultiu ecològics ...

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Section: Plant Protection Product Inventory Improvementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Practitioners can use other more dynamic models that take these aspects into account: Indigo v3.0 (Bockstaller et al, 2022), Daisy (Hansen et al, 2000) and Animo (Rijtema and Kroes 1991), with metastudy by (Andrade et al, 2021).…”

Section: Negative Heavy Metal (Hm) Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental impact accounting of organic agricultural production systems: advancing inventory and biodiversity modelling approaches in life cycle assessment

Montemayor

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Environmental assessment of the Ecuadorian cocoa value chain with statistics-based LCA

Avadí

2023

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Introduction Cocoa is one of the main crops grown in Ecuador. The agricultural area dedicated to cocoa represents the largest area dedicated to a permanent crop the country. Dry bean production has grown at an average annual rate of 15% since 2014, mainly due to yield improvements and replacement of other crops. Several varieties of cocoa are grown, but production is dominated by two main varieties: “Cacao Fino y de Aroma” and clonal varieties (dominated by CCN-51). Cocoa, mainly in monocrop systems, is mainly produced on the Ecuadorian Coast (but also in the Highlands and Amazonia). This study presents a statistics-based LCA of the Ecuadorian cocoa value chain. Material and methods LCIs representing the various types of systems in each link of the value chain—i.e. the various types of farming systems, processing and distribution—were constructed in terms of representative production units. Sub-chains centred on different cocoa varieties and value-adding strategies were identified. Primary and secondary data were collected for the most representative system types, as defined in the actor typologies. Primary data were obtained via field visits and surveys, while secondary data were obtained mainly from statistical datasets of the National Institute of Statistics and Census. Impacts were computed following the European Commission's Product Environmental Footprint, while soil carbon turnover was modelled using RothC. Results and discussion Identified types of producers are subsistence and entrepreneurial small, medium, and large. Two post-harvest strategies were modelled: a volume-oriented one and a quality-oriented one. The main sub-chains identified are the volume/commodity-oriented one (which is dominantly based on cocoa which either does not undergo post-harvest, or which undergoes volume-oriented post-harvest activities) and the quality-oriented one. Across producer types, irrigation and negative direct field emissions are the most important factors, followed in importance by total energy consumption. Post-harvest and processing activities are dominated by energy expenditures. Sub-chains feature significantly different intensity of impacts, with the volume-oriented sub-chain (i.e. those privileging quantity over quality) featuring lower impacts than the quality-oriented ones. Conclusions The impacts of the value chain are comparatively lower, at least regarding climate change, than in other producing countries. Its agricultural phase generally exhibits low input pressure, contributes to climate change mitigation through high C sequestration in biomass that exceeds C losses due to land use change (e.g. deforestation), and does not seem to pose an immediate threat to biodiversity. Improvement initiatives do not necessarily imply intensification of production.

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DEXi-Dairy: an ex post multicriteria tool to assess the sustainability of dairy production systems in various European regions

Wilfart,

Baillet,

Balaine

et al. 2023

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

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Growing awareness of global challenges and increasing pressures on the farming sector, including the urgent requirement to rapidly cut greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, emphasize the need for sustainable production, which is particularly relevant for dairy production systems. Comparing dairy production systems across the three sustainability dimensions is a considerable challenge, notably due to the heterogeneity of production conditions in Europe. To overcome this, we developed an ex post multicriteria assessment tool that adopts a holistic approach across the three sustainability dimensions. This tool is based on the DEXi framework, which associates a hierarchical decision model with an expert perspective and follows a tree shaped structure; thus, we called it the DEXi-Dairy tool. For each dimension of sustainability, qualitative attributes were defined and organized in themes, sub-themes, and indicators. Their choice was guided by three objectives: (i) better describe main challenges faced by European dairy production systems, (ii) point out synergies and trade-offs across sustainability dimensions, and (iii) contribute to the identification of GHG mitigation strategies at the farm level. Qualitative scales for each theme, sub-theme, and indicator were defined together with weighting factors used to aggregate each level of the tree. Based on selected indicators, a list of farm data requirements was developed to populate the sustainability tree. The model was then tested on seven case study farms distributed across Europe. DEXi-Dairy presents a qualitative method that allows for the comparison of different inputs and the evaluation of the three sustainability dimensions in an integrated manner. By assessing synergies and trade-offs across sustainability dimensions, DEXi-Dairy is able to reflect the heterogeneity of dairy production systems. Results indicate that, while trade-offs occasionally exist among respective selected sub-themes, certain farming systems tend to achieve a higher sustainability score than others and hence could serve as benchmarks for further analyses.

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Modelling direct field nitrogen emissions using a semi-mechanistic leaching model newly implemented in Indigo-N v3

Cited by 6 publications

References 68 publications

Environmental impact accounting of organic agricultural production systems: advancing inventory and biodiversity modelling approaches in life cycle assessment

Environmental impact accounting of organic agricultural production systems: advancing inventory and biodiversity modelling approaches in life cycle assessment

Environmental assessment of the Ecuadorian cocoa value chain with statistics-based LCA

DEXi-Dairy: an ex post multicriteria tool to assess the sustainability of dairy production systems in various European regions

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