| 1. |
- Hashemi, Fatemeh, et al.
(författare)
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Organic food has lower environmental impacts per area unit and similar climate impacts per mass unit compared to conventional
- 2024
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Ingår i: Communications Earth and Environment. - 2662-4435. ; 5:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In recent years, interest in studying the climate and environmental impact of organic food has grown. Here, we compared the environmental impacts of organic and conventional food using data from 100 life cycle assessment studies. Most studies focused on climate impacts, with fewer addressing biodiversity loss and ecotoxicity. Findings revealed no significant differences in global warming, eutrophication potential, and energy use per mass unit. However, organic food showed lower global warming, eutrophication potential, and energy use per area unit, with higher land use. Additionally, organic farming showed lower potential for biodiversity loss and ecotoxicity. Challenges in life cycle assessment include evaluating biodiversity, toxicity, soil quality, and carbon changes. The choice of functional units influences results, highlighting the importance of considering multiple units in assessing organic food’s environmental footprint. This study emphasizes the necessity for comprehensive assessments at both product and diet levels to support informed decisions.
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| 2. |
- Mohammadi, Ali, 1983-, et al.
(författare)
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Joint Life Cycle Assessment and Data Envelopment Analysis for the benchmarking of environmental impacts in rice paddy production
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 106, s. 521-532
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The combined implementation of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has been identified as a suitable tool for the evaluation of the environmental and economic performance of multiple similar entities. In this study, a total of 82 rice paddy fields for spring and summer growing seasons in north of Iran were assessed using a combined LCA and DEA methodology to estimate the technical efficiency of each farmer. Furthermore, the environmental consequences of operational inefficiencies were quantified and target performance values benchmarked for inefficient units so that ecoefficiency criteria were verified. Results showed average reduction levels of up to 20% and 25% per material input for spring and summer systems, leading to impact reductions which ranged from 8% to 11% for spring farms and 19% to 25% for summer farms depending on the chosen impact category. Additionally, the potential economic savings from efficient farming operations were also determined. The economic results indicate that an added annual gross margin of 0.045 $ per 1 kg rice paddy could be achieved if inefficient units converted to an efficient operation. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 3. |
- Trydeman Knudsen, Marie, et al.
(författare)
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Characterization factors for land use impacts on biodiversity in life cycle assessment based on direct measures of plant species richness in European farmland in the ‘Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forest`.
- 2017
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Ingår i: Science of the Total Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0048-9697 .- 1879-1026. ; 580, s. 358-366
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a widely used tool to assess environmental sustainability of products. The LCAshould optimally cover themost important environmental impact categories such as climate change, eutrophicationand biodiversity. However, impacts on biodiversity are seldom included in LCAs due tomethodological limitationsand lack of appropriate characterization factors. When assessing organic agricultural products theomission of biodiversity in LCA is problematic, because organic systems are characterized by higher species richnessat field level compared to the conventional systems. Thus, there is a need for characterization factors to estimateland use impacts on biodiversity in life cycle assessment that are able to distinguish between organic andconventional agricultural land use that can be used to supplement and validate the few currently suggested characterization factors. Based on a unique dataset derived fromfield recording of plant species diversity in farmlandacross six European countries, the present study provides newmidpoint occupation Characterization Factors(CF) expressing the Potentially Disappeared Fraction (PDF) to estimate land use impacts on biodiversity in the‘Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forest’ biome in Europe. The method is based on calculation of plant specieson randomly selected test sites in the biome and enables the calculation of characterization factors that are sensitiveto particular types ofmanagement.While species richness differs between countries, the calculated CFs areable to distinguish between different land use types (pastures (monocotyledons or mixed), arable land andhedges) and management practices (organic or conventional production systems) across countries. The new occupationCFs can be used to supplement or validate the fewcurrent CF's and can be applied in LCAs of agriculturalproducts to assess land use impacts on species richness in the ‘Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forest’ biome.
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| 4. |
- van der Werf, Hayo, et al.
(författare)
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Evaluer les impacts environmennementaux de l'agriculture biologique: l'analyse du cycle de vie doit fair mieux
- 2020
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Ingår i: Innovations Agronomique. - 1958-5853. ; 80, s. 113-121
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- L'analyse du cycle de vie (ACV) est la méthode la plus utilisée pour évaluer les impacts environnementaux des produits agricoles. La méthodologie et les études actuelles d'ACV ont tendance à favoriser les systèmes agricoles intensifs et à défavoriser les systèmes agroécologiques tels que l'agriculture biologique. Cela est dû en partie à l'approche de l'ACV, qui se focalise sur les produits, sans prendre en compte les autres services écosystémiques des systèmes agricoles, et en partie parce que l'ACV prend rarement en compte les aspects que l'agroécologie vise à améliorer (santé des sols, état de la biodiversité, impacts de l'utilisation des pesticides). Nous identifions trois domaines clés (indicateurs supplémentaires, perspective plus large, effets indirects) pour lesquels nous proposons des recommandations pour les praticiens de l’ACV et des priorités de recherche
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| 5. |
- van der Werf, Hayo M. G., et al.
(författare)
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Towards better representation of organic agriculture in life cycle assessment
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature Sustainability. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2398-9629. ; 3:6, s. 419-425
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Transitioning agriculture toward greater sustainability is vital. This Perspective argues for more-holistic consideration of organic agriculture in life cycle assessments, widely used to analyse environmental impacts. The environmental effects of agriculture and food are much discussed, with competing claims concerning the impacts of conventional and organic farming. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is the method most widely used to assess environmental impacts of agricultural products. Current LCA methodology and studies tend to favour high-input intensive agricultural systems and misrepresent less intensive agroecological systems such as organic agriculture. LCA assesses agroecological systems inadequately for three reasons: (1) a lack of operational indicators for three key environmental issues; (2) a narrow perspective on functions of agricultural systems; and (3) inconsistent modelling of indirect effects.
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