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Agriculture plays a central role in achieving most Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Sustainable intensification (SI) of agriculture has been proposed as a promising concept for safeguarding global food security, while simultaneously protecting the environment and promoting good quality of life. However, SI often leads to context-specific sustainability trade-offs. Operationalising SI thus needs to be supported by transparent sustainability assessments. In this article, we propose a general systematic approach to developing context-specific frameworks for integrated sustainability assessment of agricultural intensity change. Firstly, we specify a comprehensive system representation for analysing how changes in agricultural intensity lead to a multitude of sustainability outcomes affecting different societal groups across geographical scales. We then introduce a procedure for identifying the attributes that are relevant for assessment within particular contexts, and respective indicator metrics. Finally, we illustrate the proposed approach by developing an assessment framework for evaluating a wide range of intensification pathways in Europe. The application of the approach revealed processes and effects that are relevant for the European context but are rarely considered in SI assessments. These include farmers’ health, workers’ living conditions, cultural heritage and sense of place of rural communities, animal welfare, impacts on sectors not directly related to agriculture (e.g., tourism), shrinking and ageing of rural population and consumers’ health. The proposed approach addresses important gaps in SI assessments, and thus represents an important step forward in defining transparent procedures for sustainability assessments that can stimulate an informed debate about the operationalisation of SI and its contribution towards achieving SDGs., Environmental Science & Policy, 137, ISSN:1462-9011, ISSN:1873-6416

Periodized nutrition is necessary to optimize training and enhance performance through the season. The Athlete&rsquo, s Plate (AP) is a nutrition education tool developed to teach athletes how to design their plates depending on training load (e.g., volume &times, intensity), from easy (E), moderate (M) to hard (H). The AP was validated, confirming its recommendations according to international sports nutrition guidelines. However, the AP had significantly higher protein content than recommended (up to 2.9 &plusmn, 0.5 g&middot, kg&minus, 1&middot, d&minus, 1, p &lt, 0.001 for H male). The aim of this study was to quantify the environmental impact (EnvI) of the AP and to evaluate the influence of meal type, training load, sex and registered dietitian (RD). The nutritional contents of 216 APs created by 12 sport RDs were evaluated using Computrition Software (Hospitality Suite, v. 18.1, Chatsworth, CA, USA). The EnvI of the AP was analyzed by life cycle assessment (LCA) expressed by the total amount of food on the AP, kg, and kcal, according to the Swiss Agricultural Life Cycle Assessment (SALCA) methodology. Higher EnvI is directly associated with higher training load when the total amount of food on the plate is considered for E (5.7 &plusmn, 2.9 kg CO2 eq/day), M (6.4 &plusmn, 1.5 kg CO2 eq/day), and H (8.0 &plusmn, 2.1 kg CO2 eq/day). Global warming potential, exergy and eutrophication are driven by animal protein and mainly beef, while ecotoxicity is influenced by vegetable content on the AP. The EnvI is influenced by the amount of food, training load and sex. This study is the first to report the degree of EnvI in sports nutrition. These results not only raise the need for sustainability education in sports nutrition in general, but also the urgency to modify the AP nutrition education tool to ensure sports nutrition recommendations are met, while not compromising the environment.

Describing the impact of farming on soil quality is challenging, because the model should consider changes in the physical, chemical, and biological status of soils. Physical damage to soils through heavy traffic was already analyzed in several life-cycle assessment studies. However, impacts on soil structure from grazing animals were largely ignored, and physically based model approaches to describe these impacts are very rare. In this study, we developed a new modeling approach that is closely related to the stress propagation method generally applied for analyzing compaction caused by off-road vehicles. We tested our new approach for plausibility using a comprehensive multi-year dataset containing detailed information on pasture management of several hundred Swiss dairy farms. Preliminary results showed that the new approach provides plausible outcomes for the two physical soil indicators &ldquo, macropore volume&rdquo, and &ldquo, aggregate stability&rdquo

There is a great demand for high-protein materials for livestock feed in Europe and European agriculture has a deficit of about 70% high-protein materials of which 87% is met by imported soybean and soy meal. This reflects the fact that grain legumes are currently under represented in European agriculture and produced on only 1.5% of the arable land in Europe compared with 14.5% on a worldwide basis. Several grain legumes have the potential to replace at least some of the soya currently used in the diets of monogastric animals, ruminants, and fish. There are also opportunities for greater use of legumes in new foods. Here we review the contribution of ecosystem services by grain legumes in European agriculture starting with provisioning services in terms of food and feed and moving on to the contribution they make to both regulating and supporting services which are in part due to the diversity which these crops bring to cropping systems. We explore the need to understand grain legume production on the time scale of a rotation rather than a cropping season in order to value and manage the agronomic challenges of weed, pests, and diseases alongside the maintenance or improvement of soil structure, soil organic matter, and nutrient cycling. A review of policy interventions to support grain legumes reveals that until very recently these have failed to make a difference in Europe. We contrast the European picture with the interventions that have allowed the development of grain legume production in both Canada and Australia. Whether farmers choose to grow more legumes will depend on market opportunities, the development of supply chains, and policy support as well as technical improvements of grain legume production such as breeding of new varieties and management development to improve yield stability. However, to really increase the production of grain legumes in Europe, the issues are far more wide reaching than agronomy or subsidy and require a fundamental rethinking of value chains to move grain legumes from being niche products to mainstream commodities.

Purpose Inclusion of biodiversity as an indicator in the land use impact pathway of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is essential to assess the effects of human activities on the environment. Numerous models have been applied, but validations that use actual data, collected in the field, are scarce. Methods The expert system SALCA-BD (Swiss Agricultural LCA-Biodiversity), assigns coefficients for land use class suitability and impact of agricultural practices on species diversity at field and farm scale. We used data on land use classes and agricultural practices from 132 farms located in eight European regions to complete the life cycle inventory. SALCA-BD species diversity scores were calculated for individual fields, aggregated to the farm scale, and compared to field records of arable crop flora, grassland flora, spiders, and wild bees. Results and discussion Overall, species diversity scores from SALCA-BD were positively related to the observed species richness from field survey data. The extent of the relationship diminished from arable crop flora and grassland flora to spiders and to wild bees, and from field to farm scale. Conclusions Validation of a LCA biodiversity assessment tool with data from field surveys revealed the benefit of considering multiple aspects of biodiversity. The appropriate scale for species diversity assessment (as a proxy for biodiversity) is the respective species habitat. Extension of scale increases uncertainty, which should be addressed by developing characterization factors for as detailed a land use classification as possible.

Low-input cropping systems were introduced in Western Europe to reduce the environmental impacts of intensive farming, but some of their benefits are offset by lower yields. In this paper, we review studies that used Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to investigate the effects of reducing external inputs on the eco-efficiency of cropping systems, measured as the ratio of production to environmental impacts. We also review various cropping system interventions that can improve this ratio. Depending on the initial situation and the impacts considered, reducing inputs will in itself either reduce or increase environmental impacts per product unit—highly eco-efficient cropping systems require application of optimum instead of minimum quantities of external inputs. These optimum rates can be lowered by utilizing positive synergies between crops to minimise waste of nutrients and water and by utilizing locally produced organic waste; both from within the farm as well as well as from the surrounding sociotechnical environment. Eco-efficiency can also be improved by increasing yields in a sustainable matter. Strategies such as breeding, increasing diversity, no-tillage or intercropping will not be effective under all conditions. LCA provides a useful framework to identify environmentally optimum levels of inputs and trade-offs between various intensification scenarios. ISSN:2071-1050

Complying with the carrying capacity of local and global ecosystems is a prerequisite to ensure environmental sustainability. Based on the example of Swiss mountain dairy farms, the goal of our research was firstly to investigate the relationship between farm global and local environmental performance. Secondly, we aimed to analyse the relationship between farm environmental and economic performance. The analysis relied on a sample of 56 Swiss alpine dairy farms. For each farm, the cradle-to-farm-gate life cycle assessment was calculated, and the quantified environmental impacts were decomposed into their on- and off-farm parts. We measured global environmental performance as the digestible energy produced by the farm per unit of global environmental impact generated from cradle-to-farm-gate. We assessed local environmental performance by dividing farm-usable agricultural area by on-farm environmental impact generation. Farm economic performance was measured by work income per family work unit, return on equity and output/input ratio. Spearman’s correlation analysis revealed no significant relationship, trade-offs or synergies between global and local environmental performance indicators. Interestingly, trade-offs were observed far more frequently than synergies. Furthermore, we found synergies between global environmental and economic performance and mostly no significant relationship between local environmental and economic performance. The observed trade-offs between global and local environmental performance mean that, for several environmental issues, any improvement in global environmental performance will result in deterioration of local environmental performance and vice versa. This finding calls for systematic consideration of both dimensions when carrying out farm environmental performance assessments.

The animal food chain contributes significantly to emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). We explored studies that addressed options to mitigate GHG emissions in the animal production chain and concluded that most studies focused on production systems in developed countries and on a single GHG. They did not account for the complex interrelated effects on other GHGs or their relation with other aspects of sustainability, such as eutrophication, animal welfare, land use or food security. Current decisions on GHG mitigation in animal production, therefore, are hindered by the complexity and uncertainty of the combined effect of GHG mitigation options on climate change and their relation with other aspects of sustainability. There is an urgent need to integrate simulation models at animal, crop and farm level with a consequential life cycle sustainability assessment to gain insight into the multidimensional and sometimes conflicting consequences of GHG mitigation options. Highlights ¿ Most studies that address options to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the animal production focus on systems in developed countries and on a single GHG. ¿ Current decisions on GHG mitigation in animal production are hindered by the complexity and uncertainty of the combined effect of GHG mitigation options on climate change and their relation with other aspects of sustainability. ¿ There is an urgent need to integrate simulation models at animal, crop and farm level with a consequential life cycle sustainability assessment to gain insight into the multidimensional and sometimes conflicting consequences of GHG mitigation options.

Simplification has been a clear trend in the composition of French crop rotations in the past decades, whereas agronomic knowledge proves the interest of diversification in order to benefit from the so called “preceding effects” and “cumulative effects”. It is needed to study the possible input of crops such as rape seed or pea for the cereal-based rotations in agronomic terms but also in economic and environmental terms. The first step is to quantify the impacts specifically due to the change in crop succession composition, and afterwards to allocate an objective economic value to them so that they are easy to integrate into comparisons of production systems. The regional case studies of a current multi-partner project enable to illustrate the economic and environmental evaluation of alternatives to the rotation “Oilseed rape – Wheat – Barley”. In addition, the recent field experiment data of this project (farm tests or experimental trials) provide technical and scientific elements on technical feasibility and the economic performance of the innovative succession “pea before rape seed”, but also on the interest of the introduction of symbiotically fixed nitrogen in crop rotations in order to decrease the negative environmental impacts of mineral fertilisers-based systems. Diversification of crops and nitrogen fixation appear to be two key elements for (i) competitiveness, when at least the agronomic effects are taken into account, and (ii) sustainable systems, when one considers the preservation of farm potential and of the environment.

In this study, we used LCA to test the influence of practicing low-input farming, on-farm processing and direct distribution on the environmental impact of bread consumption. Primary data were collected from four commercially active producers (two in France, one in Italy and one in Portugal) who cultivate cereals under low levels of inputs, process grains on farm and distribute their products directly to end consumers. Environmental impacts of products were compared to equivalents from supermarkets, characterised by higher rates of applied inputs at the agricultural stage, industrial processing and centralised distribution. The scope of LCA was from cradle to the consumer. The study revealed a high variability of results between individual cases. At the agricultural stage, products from a low-input cropping system integrated with livestock production in France and from a small-scale labour intensive production in Portugal showed similar or better performance on most impact categories to those from high-input agriculture, while horse farming in France and a stockless cultivation of ancient wheat cultivars in Italy revealed mostly higher environmental burdens. Decentralised processing and distribution in France had similar or slightly higher impacts to conventional supply chains, while Italian and Portuguese cases revealed clearly higher environmental burdens for most impact categories. Results demonstrate that while there might be a positive relationship between the scale and eco-efficiency of processing and distribution, the level of agricultural inputs, yields and transport distances cannot be used as proxies of environmental performance. Products of low-input systems can have much higher, similar or lower impacts to their high-input counterparts due to the influence of site conditions and the management. More research assessing the effectiveness of context-specific management systems is needed as oppose to the generic comparisons between labelling schemes (i.e. organic and conventional farming). (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Purpose Pesticides are applied to agricultural fields to optimise crop yield and their global use is substantial. Their consideration in life cycle assessment (LCA) is affected by important inconsistencies between the emission inventory and impact assessment phases of LCA. A clear definition of the delineation between the product system model (life cycle inventory—LCI, technosphere) and the natural environment (life cycle impact assessment—LCIA, ecosphere) is missing and could be established via consensus building. Methods A workshop held in 2013 in Glasgow, UK, had the goal of establishing consensus and creating clear guidelines in the following topics: (1) boundary between emission inventory and impact characterisation model, (2) spatial dimensions and the time periods assumed for the application of substances to open agricultural fields or in greenhouses and (3) emissions to the natural environment and their potential impacts. More than 30 specialists in agrifood LCI, LCIA, risk assessment and ecotoxicology, representing industry, government and academia from 15 countries and four continents, met to discuss and reach consensus. The resulting guidelines target LCA practitioners, data (base) and characterisation method developers, and decision makers. Results and discussion The focus was on defining a clear interface between LCI and LCIA, capable of supporting any goal and scope requirements while avoiding double counting or exclusion of important emission flows/impacts. Consensus was reached accordingly on distinct sets of recommendations for LCI and LCIA, respectively, recommending, for example, that buffer zones should be considered as part of the crop production system and the change in yield be considered. While the spatial dimensions of the field were not fixed, the temporal boundary between dynamic LCI fate modelling and steady-state LCIA fate modelling needs to be defined. Conclusions and recommendations For pesticide application, the inventory should report pesticide identification, crop, mass applied per active ingredient, application method or formulation type, presence of buffer zones, location/country, application time before harvest and crop growth stage during application, adherence with Good Agricultural Practice, and whether the field is considered part of the technosphere or the ecosphere. Additionally, emission fractions to environmental media on-field and off-field should be reported. For LCIA, the directly concerned impact categories and a list of relevant fate and exposure processes were identified. Next steps were identified: (1) establishing default emission fractions to environmental media for integration into LCI databases and (2) interaction among impact model developers to extend current methods with new elements/processes mentioned in the recommendations.

Resource use and environmental impacts of a small-scale low-input organic vegetable supply system in the United Kingdom were assessed by emergy accounting and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The system consisted of a farm with high crop diversity and a related box-scheme distribution system. We compared empirical data from this case system with two modeled organic food supply systems representing high- and low-yielding practices for organic vegetable production. Further, these systems were embedded in a supermarket distribution system and they provided the same amount of comparable vegetables at the consumers’ door as the case system. The on-farm resource use measured in solar equivalent Joules (seJ) was similar for the case system and the high-yielding model system and higher for the low-yielding model system. The distribution phase of the case system was at least three times as resource efficient as the models and had substantially less environmental impacts when assessed using LCA. The three systems ranked differently for emissions with the high-yielding model system being the worst for terrestrial ecotoxicity and the case system the worst for global warming potential. As a consequence of being embedded in an industrial economy, about 90% of resources (seJ) were used for supporting labor and service.

International audience; Integrated weed management in arable crops relies on the combination of various measures for preventing, avoiding and suppressing weeds, with the aim of reducing the reliance on herbicides and their environmental impacts. As IWM requires potentially deep changes in the cropping systems, modifying e.g. the crop sequence, the strategies for soil tillage and eventually introducing mechanical weeding, it is important to perform comprehensive evaluations of IWM-based cropping system prototypes. In this study, a life cycle assessment method was used to compute several environmental impacts for four variants of IWM-based cropping system tested over a pluri-annual experiment, and compared with a standard reference. When expressed per unit of cultivated area, most environmental indicators were improved in IWM-based systems, including the energy input, greenhouse gas emission, eutrophication and acidification, and ecotoxicity and human toxicity. In-field fuel consumption was a rather minor contribution to the overall energy demand and to global warming. The ranking of the tested cropping systems was different when the indicators were expressed per unit of harvested agricultural goods or per unit of farmer's income. With these two functional units, the differences among systems tended to be weaker, and some indicators of environmental impacts were higher in IWM-based systems. Indicators focusing on biodiversity and soil quality displayed few differences among systems.

Summary: There is an increasing need for life cycle data for bio-based products, which becomes particularly evident with the recent drive for greenhouse gas reporting and carbon footprinting studies. Meeting this need is challenging given that many bio-products have not yet been studied by life cycle assessment (LCA), and those that have are specific and limited to certain geographic regions. In an attempt to bridge data gaps for bio-based products, LCA practitioners can use either proxy data sets (e.g., use existing environmental data for apples to represent pears) or extrapolated data (e.g., derive new data for pears by modifying data for apples considering pear-specific production characteristics). This article explores the challenges and consequences of using these two approaches. Several case studies are used to illustrate the trade-offs between uncertainty and the ease of application, with carbon footprinting as an example. As shown, the use of proxy data sets is the quickest and easiest solution for bridging data gaps but also has the highest uncertainty. In contrast, data extrapolation methods may require extensive expert knowledge and are thus harder to use but give more robust results in bridging data gaps. They can also provide a sound basis for understanding variability in bio-based product data. If resources (time, budget, and expertise) are limited, the use of averaged proxy data may be an acceptable compromise for initial or screening assessments. Overall, the article highlights the need for further research on the development and validation of different approaches to bridging data gaps for bio-based products. © 2011 by Yale University.