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| 2. |
- Billen, Gilles, et al.
(författare)
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Reshaping the European agro-food system and closing its nitrogen cycle: The potential of combining dietary change, agroecology, and circularity
- 2021
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Ingår i: One Earth. - : Elsevier BV. - 2590-3322 .- 2590-3330. ; 4:6, s. 839-850
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- After World War II, the evolution of Europe's agro-food system has been marked by intensified use of synthetic fertilizers, territorial specialization, and integration in global food and feed markets. This evolution led to increased nitrogen (N) losses to aquatic environments and the atmosphere, which, despite increasing environmental regulations, continues to harm ecosystems and human well-being. Here, we explore how these N losses can be drastically reduced in a scenario synergistically operating three levers: (1) a dietary change toward less animal products and an efficient recycling of human excreta; (2) the generalization of region-specific organic crop rotation systems involving N2-fixing legumes, making it possible to do without synthetic N fertilizers; and (3) the reconnection of livestock with cropping systems allowing optimal use of manure. This scenario demonstrates the possibility to feed the projected European population in 2050 without imports of feed and with half the current level of environmental N losses.
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| 3. |
- Einarsson, Rasmus, 1988
(författare)
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Agricultural nutrient budgets in Europe: data, methods, and indicators
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Agricultural production systems feed humanity but also cause a range of adverse environmental effects, including climate change, loss of biodiversity, and pollution of air and water. A main cause of these effects is the emissions of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) that occur as a side effect of nutrient cycling in agriculture. One of the things that is needed to mitigate N and P pollution is a quantitative understanding of N and P flows in agricultural systems. A common tool for this is the nutrient budget. A nutrient budget quantifies inputs and outputs of nutrients in a system and can be used to understand how the system functions as well as to calculate quantitative environmental indicators for farms, regions, or products. This thesis aims to explore and expand the limits of how agricultural N and P budgets can be used to support environmental research and decision-making, focusing on European agriculture. To this end, the thesis looks into two broad research questions: (1) What are the limits to the accuracy and level of detail that can be attained in N and P budgets of European agricultural systems? (2) How are present and proposed uses of agricultural N and P budgets and derived indicators limited by (a) the inherent property that agricultural nutrient budgets do not account for environmental impacts, and (b) by uncertainties and lack of data in the estimation of nutrient budgets? This thesis builds on five appended research papers that explore various aspects of data sources, uncertainties, and possible uses of N and P budgets in Europe. International and national data sources are scrutinized and used to estimate N and P budgets. Novel ways to combine existing data sources are explored. The use of nutrient budgets with various system boundaries, with different degrees of spatial resolution, and in different time periods is discussed, emphasizing that the best approach is not only a question of data supply but also of intended audience and purpose.
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| 4. |
- Einarsson, Rasmus, 1988, et al.
(författare)
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Analyzing key constraints to biogas production from crop residues and manure in the EU - A spatially explicit model
- 2017
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Ingår i: PLoS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203 .- 1932-6203. ; 12:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper presents a spatially explicit method for making regional estimates of the potential for biogas production from crop residues and manure, accounting for key technical, biochemical, environmental and economic constraints. Methods for making such estimates are important as biofuels from agricultural residues are receiving increasing policy support from the EU and major biogas producers, such as Germany and Italy, in response to concerns over unintended negative environmental and social impacts of conventional biofuels. This analysis comprises a spatially explicit estimate of crop residue and manure production for the EU at 250 m resolution, and a biogas production model accounting for local constraints such as the sustainable removal of residues, transportation of substrates, and the substrates' biochemical suitability for anaerobic digestion. In our base scenario, the EU biogas production potential from crop residues and manure is about 0.7 EJ/year, nearly double the current EU production of biogas from agricultural substrates, most of which does not come from residues or manure. An extensive sensitivity analysis of the model shows that the potential could easily be 50% higher or lower, depending on the stringency of economic, technical and biochemical constraints. We find that the potential is particularly sensitive to constraints on the substrate mixtures' carbon-to-nitrogen ratio and dry matter concentration. Hence, the potential to produce biogas from crop residues and manure in the EU depends to large extent on the possibility to overcome the challenges associated with these substrates, either by complementing them with suitable co-substrates (e.g. household waste and energy crops), or through further development of biogas technology (e.g. pretreatment of substrates and recirculation of effluent).
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| 5. |
- Einarsson, Rasmus, 1988
(författare)
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Assessing reactive nitrogen flows in European agricultural systems
- 2017
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In most ecosystems, nitrogen is a scarce and growth-limiting nutrient. Natural and anthropogenic processes convert unreactive atmospheric dinitrogen (N2) into reactive, bioavailable, nitrogen. This conversion occurs mainly through biological nitrogen fixation (BNF), industrial ammonia (NH3) synthesis, and oxidation of N2 into nitrogen oxides (NOx) during combustion of fossil fuels. The rate of anthropogenic conversion of N2 into reactive nitrogen has increased dramatically in the last century and today roughly equals the rate of all natural processes combined. The most important benefit is that NH3-derived fertilizer and BNF improve crop yields in agriculture. However, anthropogenic activities have also increased the turnover of reactive nitrogen in the environment, with unintended consequences for human well-being and ecosystem functioning. NOx and NH3 in the atmosphere contribute to smog and related health problems. Emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) contribute to global warming. Nitrogen fertilizes and acidifies terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, sometimes with dramatic effects on biodiversity.This thesis makes two types of contributions to the understanding of reactive nitrogen flows in European agricultural systems. First, it estimates and analyzes nitrogen flows with a special focus on livestock production and on uncertainties in agricultural nitrogen budgets, with results that can be used to assess the effects of potential changes to the food system. A comparison of organic and conventional milk production systems shows that organic milk is likely associated with less nitrogen losses to the environment, but this conclusion may change with improved BNF estimates. Second, the thesis analyzes and discusses three quantitative indicators to assess nitrogen losses associated with food products or production systems, with focus on system boundaries, uncertainties and environmental relevance. The indicators have limited environmental relevance since they aggregate nitrogen flows over time, space, and of different chemical forms. This analysis contributes to the understanding of how nitrogen indicators can be used for research and communication with the public and policy-makers.
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| 6. |
- Einarsson, Rasmus, 1988, et al.
(författare)
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Crop production and nitrogen use in European cropland and grassland 1961–2019
- 2021
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Ingår i: Scientific data. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2052-4463. ; 8:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper presents EuropeAgriDB v1.0, a dataset of crop production and nitrogen (N) flows in European cropland 1961–2019. The dataset covers 26 present-day countries, detailing the cropland N harvests in 17 crop categories as well as cropland N inputs in synthetic fertilizers, manure, symbiotic fixation, and atmospheric deposition. The study builds on established methods but goes beyond previous research by combining data from FAOSTAT, Eurostat, and a range of national data sources. The result is a detailed, complete, and consistent dataset, intended as a basis for further analyses of past and present agricultural production patterns, as well as construction of scenarios for the future.
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| 7. |
- Einarsson, Rasmus, 1988
(författare)
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Det viktiga är vad man äter – inte var det produceras
- 2018
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Ingår i: Syre. - 2003-5292 .- 2002-0570.
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Klimatforskarna har inte missat att metanet bryts ner. Jag ska försöka klargöra. Metan är en mycket starkare växthusgas än koldioxid, men den bryts gradvis ner över några decennier. Därför leder utsläppen i längden – som Göran Rudbäck förklarar – till en högre jämviktskoncentration av metan i atmosfären, inte till en oändlig ökning. Men detta betyder inte att metanet är oviktigt, utan bara att jämförelsen beror på tidsperspektivet. Den vanligaste metoden (GWP100) är att jämföra den samlade uppvärmningen på 100 års sikt. Då motsvarar 1 kg metan 28-34 kg koldioxid. Metanets relativa effekt är större om man väljer ett kortare tidsperspektiv och mindre om man väljer ett längre. Jag tycker att 100 år är rimligt, för det är ju på den tidsskalan vi försöker lösa klimatfrågan. Det är nu vi behöver bromsa klimatförändringarna. Scans hållbarhetsdirektör påpekar att svensk köttproduktion är relativt effektiv, men det förändrar inte nämnvärt jämförelsen med vegetabilier. Räknat på 100 års sikt är nötköttets hela klimatpåverkan ungefär 50 gånger större än för bönor och linser. För de flesta livsmedel utgör transporter en försvinnande liten del av klimatpåverkan, oavsett om man räknar GWP på 20 eller 500 års sikt. Det viktiga är vad man äter, inte var det produceras. Därmed inte sagt att alla nötkreatur ska utrotas. Många tycker om att äta kött, och i landskapet och lantbruket har djuren flera olika nyttor. Men vi måste se nyktert på kunskapsläget och inse att vår ökande köttkonsumtion är en del av klimatfrågan.
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| 8. |
- Einarsson, Rasmus, 1988, et al.
(författare)
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Estimating the EU biogas potential from manure and crop residues — A spatial analysis
- 2015
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Anaerobic fermentation of agricultural wastes such as crop residues and animal manure, producing biogas, is an example of an advanced biofuel that can contribute to the EU target of a minimum 10% of transport fuels from renewable sources in 2020. Producing biogas from residues has received increasing attention following the debate on the impact conventional biofuel production has on food prices, poverty and land-use change. The EU, as well as major producers of biogas such as Germany and Italy, are currently revising their policy framework to incentivize the sourcing of biogas substrates from waste streams.Given these developments it is important to improve our understanding of how large the potential is for producing biogas and biomethane from agricultural wastes in the EU, how that potential is distributed across member states, and what the main limitations to this potential are. Previous studies on the potential for producing biogas from agricultural wastes in the EU, however, have either been local cases studies that account for a host of detailed economic and technical constraints, an approach that is almost impossible to scale up to the EU level, or top-down assessments of gross substrate potentials that do not account for any of the technical and economic limitations specific to biogas production.In this report we present a spatially explicit approach for estimating the availability of agricultural wastes - crop residues and animal manure - across the EU, which also allows for an analysis of how key economic and technical constraints such as minimum viable plant size, maximum collection distances for substrates, and substrate composition affects the total potential for biogas production.Our main results from this analysis can be summarized as follows:* Total annually available biogas substrates from agricultural wastes in the EU28 amounts to roughly 80 million tonnes of crop residues (dry matter) and 110 million tonnes (dry matter) of animal manure.* In our base case scenario, three quarters of the manure and a fifth of the crop residues are technically and economically exploitable for biogas production, yielding a total biogas potential from agricultural wastes of almost 700 PJ (HHV) per year.* Animal production and arable farming are spatially highly segregated in some parts of the EU28. This leads to some areas having considerable surpluses of either dry, carbon-rich crop residues or nitrogen-rich manures which cannot be fully utilized due to technical constraints on dry matter content and carbon-to-nitrogen ratios. There are, however, potential ways to relax these constraints, for example using dry fermentation technology or adding wet, carbon-rich co-substrates, such as energy crops.* If we assume a larger minimum viable biogas plant size of 8 MW, typical if the biogas is to be upgraded to vehicle fuel quality, the potential decreases by about a quarter. However, the base case potential can still be reached or even surpassed under this constraint if one allows for a somewhat increased collection radius for substrates or if the constraint on maximum dry matter content is relaxed.
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| 9. |
- Einarsson, Rasmus, 1988, et al.
(författare)
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Healthy diets and sustainable food systems
- 2019
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Ingår i: The Lancet. - 1474-547X .- 0140-6736. ; 394:10194, s. 215-215
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 10. |
- Einarsson, Rasmus, 1988, et al.
(författare)
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Is the nitrogen footprint fit for purpose? An assessment of models and proposed uses
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0301-4797 .- 1095-8630. ; 240, s. 198-208
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The nitrogen footprint has been proposed as an environmental indicator to quantify and highlight how individuals, organizations, or countries contribute to nitrogen pollution. While some footprint indicators have been successful in raising awareness of environmental pressures among the public and policy-makers, they have also attracted criticism from members of the life cycle assessment (LCA) community who find some footprints confusing and misleading as they measure substance and energy flows without considering their environmental impacts. However, there are also legitimate reasons to defend footprints as a useful class of indicators despite their incompatibility with LCA principles. Here, in light of this previous research and debate, we critically assess models and proposed uses for the nitrogen footprint, and explore options for further development. As the nitrogen footprint merely quantifies gross nitrogen emissions irrespective of time, location, and chemical form, it is a crude proxy of environmental and health impacts compared to other, more sophisticated environmental impact indicators. However, developing the nitrogen footprint toward LCA-compatible impact assessment would imply more uncertainty, more complexity, and more work. Furthermore, we emphasize that impact assessment has an unavoidable subjective dimension that should be recognized in any development toward impact assessment. We argue that the nitrogen footprint in its present form is already fit for some purposes, and therefore further development towards impact assessment may be unnecessary or even undesirable. For some uses it seems more important that the footprint has a clear physical meaning. We conclude that the best way forward for the nitrogen footprint depends crucially on what story it is used to tell.
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