Federal Department of Economic Affairs FDEA Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station ART The advantages of generic LCA tools for agriculture: examples SALCAcrop and SALCAfarm Thomas Nemecek Ruth Freiermuth Knuchel Martina Alig Gérard Gaillard Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station ART CH-8046 Zurich, Switzerland http://www.agroscope.ch thomas.nemecek@art.admin.ch LCA food 2010 Bari - 24 September 2010
Overview Introduction SALCA concept Estimating direct field emissions Impact assessment Principles of SALCA tools implementation SALCAcrop SALCAfarm Embedding into IT architecture Conclusions 2
Introduction LCA is a data intensive method need for efficient data management High variability and complexity of agricultural production + small production units (farms) environmental models and data adapted to agriculture many LCA calculations needed for representative results efficient LCA calculation procedures required Various demands from stakeholders (environmental management of farms, environmental product declaration, selection of raw materials, research, etc.) need for integrative concept as a basis for manifold uses 3
SALCA: An integrated concept for agricultural environmental assessment SALCA = Swiss Agricultural Life Cycle Assessment SALCA consists of the following elements: Database for life cycle inventories for agriculture (in collaboration with ecoinvent) Models for the calculation of direct emissions from field and farm A selection of impact assessment methods (midpoints) Methods for the assessment of impacts on biodiversity and soil quality Calculation tools for agricultural systems (farm, crop) Interpretation scheme for agricultural LCA Communication concept for the environmental management of farms 4
Estimating direct field and farm emissions Ideal emission models should Reflect the underlying environmental mechanisms Be site and time dependent Consider the effect of soil and climate Consider the effect of management Be applicable under a wide range of different situations The different models should have a similar level of detail But also be usable: Parameters are measurable Data can be collected in a reasonable time Calculation is feasible A compromise is needed! 5
SALCA emission models Emission Description Reference Ammonia (NH 3 ) Considers type of fertiliser, climate, time and technique of application Menzi et al. (1997) Nitrous oxide (N 2 O) Direct and indirect emissions IPCC (2006) Nitrate (NO 3 - ) Phosphorus (P, PO 4 3- ) Heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Zn) Monthly balance, considering crop, sowing and harvest dates, soil tillage, timing and quantity of N fertilisation Includes erosion, run-off and leaching, considers P fertilisation, soil characteristics, topography Field or farm level balance, considers inputs, harvest, leaching, erosion and change in soil concentration Richner et al. (2006) Prasuhn (2006) Freiermuth (2006) Methane (CH 4 ) Enteric fermentation and manure management IPCC (2006) 6
SALCA impact assessment methods Impact category Reference Remarks Non-renewable energy demand Ecoinvent (2007) Global warming potential IPCC (2007) Fossil und nuclear energy resources Ozone formation potential EDIP (2003) With regionalisation Eutrophication potential EDIP (2003) With regionalisation Acidification potential EDIP (2003) With regionalisation Aquatic and terrestrial ecotoxicity Human toxicity Biodiversity Soil quality CML (2001) Jeanneret et al. (2006) Oberholzer et al. (2006) Complemented with characterisation factor for ca. 400 pesticide active ingredients 11 indicator organism groups 2 characteristics 9 indicators for physical, chemical and biological soil properties 7
Principles of SALCA tools: Organisational structure Generic LCA systems to cover all types of farms (SALCAfarm) or crops (SALCAcrop) within the validity range wide range of applications applicable for multiple purposes Standardised LCA calculation ensures consistency avoids redundancy Parameterisation inputs and processes defined by variables non-existing inputs and processes set to 0 hundreds to thousands of parameters Modular structure each module has clearly defined interfaces modules can also be used/tested independently complexity can be managed Illustrated by the example of SALCAcrop 8
SALCAcrop System boundary: 1 crop per growing season By multiple calculations it can represent also crop rotations and permanent crops 140 arable/permanent crops and vegetables covered Valid for Central Europe Production inventory Example: 2 crop rotations in Germany 9
Modular architecture of the SALCA-crop V3.1 Internal Links in EXCEL-sheet Production inventory (data entry) PI transfer file Input data SALCA-field Input data SALCA-nitrate Input data SALCA-erosion Input data SALCA-soil quality Input data SALCA (TEAM/SimaPro) Input data SALCA heavy metals Production inventory: Common data entry of all parameters for all tools LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY (LCI) Data transfer by macros EXCEL EXCEL LCA software SALCA-Nitrate module Calculations SALCA-Erosion module Calculations SALCA-soil quality module Calculations SALCA (TEAM/SimaPro) LCI Calculations SALCA-Heavy metals module Calculations Java & EXCEL SALCA-Field module (other direct emissions) Calculations SALCA-biodiversity module Data entry Calculations (separate module in Java) LIFE CYCLE IMPACT ASSESSMENT (LCIA) Transfer LCI data SALCA (TEAM/SimaPro) LCIA Calculation 10
Principles of SALCA tools: Software implementation Automated workflow efficient calculation procedure Batch processing mass calculation many farms or crops can be calculated in one run Core components (SALCAcrop, SALCAfarm) own programming Peripheral components IT service provider, parametrisable tools Illustrated by the example of SALCAfarm 11
SALCAfarm System boundary: farm / product group Can also be used for animal production systems Applicable for Swiss conditions Four system levels: Farm Product group (up to 14 product groups) Field Crop Allocation of inputs and outputs to the product groups by a set of allocation rules (economic, area, arable area, livestock units) 12
SALCAfarm: Iterative calculation procedure at several levels Calculation level Module Crop Field Farm / product group SALCAerosion SALCAnitrate SALCAfield SALCAheavyMetals SALCAanimal 13
Automated workflow as used in LCA-FADN AGRO-TECH Data collection SALCAprep Data extraction/export Data processing SALCAfarm Erosion Animal NO3 HM TEAM Field LCA calculation SALCA-SQ SALCA-BD SALCAcheck Absolute values Comparison to ref. values relative values Evaluation, validation, data export FADN EXCEL Java EXCEL Access 14
Embedding into existing IT infrastructure Workflow in the project LCA-FADN Farm Accountancy- Software Farm management software (AGRO-TECH) Accountancy data Technical data Trust and accounting office Accountancy- Software (AGRO-TWIN) Accountancy Data LCA centre SALCAprep data extraction SALCAfarm LCA calculation FADN evaluation centre Plausibility tests LCA data Export ÖB-Stelle FADN database SALCAcheck LCA validation and benchmarking Feedback to farmers Existing FADN accountancy data Synergies FADN LCA-FADN New FADN Life Cycle Assessment 15
Variability of environmental impacts: Energy demand per ha UAA (62 Swiss farms) Energy demand per ha UAA M J -E q. 300000 280000 260000 240000 220000 200000 180000 160000 140000 120000 100000 80000 60000 40000 20000 0 31 22 21 22 23 11 21 21 15 11 11 14 11 22 21 11 11 21 21 51 13 21 53 51 51 21 21 51 55 51 51 11 11 21 14 21 22 16 53 52 53 21 53 21 55 23 21 21 11 51 53 53 56 51 11 53 53 53 Fa rmty pe D es c ription Fa rm ty pe D es c rip tio n 1 1 a rab le fa rm ing 2 3 o th er cattle 1 3 ve ge ta b le cu ltivatio n 3 1 h orse s/g o ats/sh e ep 1 4 fruit cultivatio n 5 1 d airy fa rm / a ra ble fa rm in g com bin ed 1 5 viticultu re 5 2 su ckler cow s / a rab le fa rm ing co m b ine d 1 6 o th er cu ltu re s 5 3 p ig s a n d po u ltry / a ra ble fa rm in g com bine d 2 1 d airy farm 5 5 d airy fa rm s / o th e r co m b in e d 2 2 su ckler co ws 5 6 ca ttle / othe r co m b ine d 16
Conclusions Advantages of generic LCA tools Consistent, standardised calculation of a large number of LCAs More efficient calculation allows to assess variability better Avoids redundancy changes and improvements made only once Flexibility by parameterisation Drawbacks of generic LCA tools Time-consuming development System gets more complex (need to consider all cases) modular structure required Generic LCA tools are required to handle large datasets to assess variability to foster agricultural LCA 17
Thank you! ART Research for Agriculture and Nature ANIMALCA Peer Review ART 2010 18