How to include on-farm biodiversity in LCA on food?

Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) of food and agriculture generally include potential effects on global warming, eutrophication, ecotoxocity and acidification some of which again affect biodiversity. However, LCA most often does not include specific indicators of the product’s or agricultural system’s impact (negative or positive) on biodiversity. Using LCA methodology on agricultural products makes it highly relevant to assess the impacts of land use. Some LCA’s include a simple category of land use. This is sometimes interpreted as “nature occupation”. However, if this is the only impact category addressing land use related biodiversity, the LCA cannot distinguish between different forms of agricultural systems, which may differ in their biodiversity impact (e.g. organic versus conventional products). Biologists as well as policy makers consider some agricultural land use, such as grazing semi-natural grasslands, as beneficial for biodiversity preservation. Thus, land use in food production systems can have both positive and negative impacts on biodiversity compared to leaving the land untouched by humans. Simple, operational indicators to account for the different impacts on biodiversity in food production systems could take the point of departure in the most important factors affecting biodiversity (easy obtainable pressure indicators) instead of estimating e.g. species diversity directly

Achieving low emissions through food choice

The presentation looks at how we eat and how that affects the climate, environment (and health). The potentials to reduce the impact is explored and carbon footprint and life cycle assessment of food is introduced

Environmental assessment of imported organic products - focusing on orange juice from Brazil and soybeans from China

The import of organic products to Denmark has seen a four to five fold increase during the last seven years, due to a growing demand for organic products. Globally, the market for organic food and drinks has also more than doubled during the same period. The global organic agricultural land has concurrently expanded from 26 to 35 million hectares, mostly due to major conversions in Argentina, China, India, Australia, USA and Brazil. While Europe and North America still makes up the major markets for organic food and drink, the extraordinary growth in the organic markets offers export opportunities for both developed and developing countries. The production and export of organic products in developing countries might offer both economic and environmental benefits, though this has mainly been investigated in Europe and North America. However, long-distance trade with organic products has also given rise to a debate on the sustainability of this development especially with regard to global warming. Consumers of organic products might ask themselves what are the environmental benefits of buying organic products from e.g. South America or Asia as compared to conventional production and is this outweighed by the long-distance trade? The overall aim of the present PhD study was to assess the environmental impacts of selected imported organic products from developing countries based on impacts during both production (as compared to conventional) and during processing and transport to Denmark. Firstly, the global trade, development and overall environmental impacts of organic agriculture and food systems were investigated to form the foundation for the further analysis. Organic soybeans from China and orange juice from Brazil were selected as relevant case studies. Secondly, environmental life cycle assessments (LCA) were conducted for the case studies in China and Brazil focusing on comparing organic with conventional cultivation and on identifying environmental hotspots of the imported organic product during production, processing and transport to Denmark. Thirdly, LCA was evaluated as a tool for evaluating the environmental soundness of organic agricultural products and a new methodology on including of soil carbon sequestration in LCA was suggested. The PhD study shows that the increasing globalization affects both conventional and organic agriculture and food systems. Major environmental problems with regard to agriculture and food systems are identified as global warming, nutrient enrichment and pollution of water resources, reductions in biodiversity and soil degradation. The growing global trade and development within organic food and farming systems holds a potential to offer economic and environmental benefits for developing countries, but at the same time holds a risk of increasing the environmental load from long-distance transport and of pushing organic food and agricultural systems toward the conventional farming model and thereby diminishing the environmental benefits of organic farming. The case studies in China and Brazil show that the total greenhouse gas emissions associated with imported organic soybeans from China is 429 kg CO2 eq. per tonne soybean, whereas imported organic orange juice from small-scale farmers in São Paulo, Brazil is 424 g CO2 eq. per litre orange juice. Transport accounts for 50-60% of the total greenhouse gas emissions from the imported organic plant products. As a comparison, transport only account for 1-15% for imported meat products, since the greenhouse gas emissions per kg meat is a lot higher than for plant products. However, the actual contribution from transport is the same. The mode of transport is a determining factor in that truck transport has a much higher greenhouse gas emission per km than sea transport. Thus, sea transport from South America (reloaded to trucks in Rotterdam) is comparable to truck transport from Italy and France and lower than truck transport from Spain and sea transport from South Africa and China (also reloaded in Rotterdam) in terms of greenhouse gas emissions per kg imported product. It should be noted that greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural production can vary (due to inputs, yields etc.) among countries and in some cases outweigh the emissions from transport. Comparing organic and conventional small-scale production until farm gate in the case studies, greenhouse gas emissions per kg organic product is found to be 60-75% of a comparable conventional production in the case study area. The nutrient enrichment (eutrophication) per kg organic product is 38-82% of a comparable conventional production whereas land use per kg organic product is 10-13% higher. Higher crop diversity is found on small organic compared to small conventional orange farms in Brazil, which may have a positive effect on biodiversity along with the absence of pesticides and the interrow vegetation. No differences are found in biodiversity potential in the Chinese case study except the absence of pesticides. Comparing large and small organic orange farms in Brazil, greenhouse gas emissions, eutrophication potential and copper use per hectare is found to be significantly lower on organic small-scale than on large-scale organic orange plantations. The shortcomings of LCA as a tool for evaluating environmental soundness of agricultural products, especially with regards to including biodiversity and soil carbon changes, are discussed. The studies in Brazil and China find that including estimated soil carbon changes widens the difference in greenhouse gas emissions per kg product between organic and conventional, but there is a need for methodological development on how to estimate and include this. A methodological approach to include soil carbon changes in LCA is suggested

Økologer udvasker mindre kvælstof

Nye samlede resultater viser, at økologiske malkekvægbrug udvasker ca. 40 procent mindre kvælstof end de konventionelle malkekvægbrug, mens kvælstofudvaskningen på økologiske og konventionelle planteavlsbrug i gennemsnittet er ens. Disse resultater omkring kvælstofudvaskning og økologisk jordbrug er nu samlet og udgivet i en artikel på engelsk, der er tilgængelig i Organic Eprints (https://orgprints.org/4637)

Økologisk jordbrugs rolle i globalisering, handel og bæredygtighed

Frisk tropisk frugt hele året – nu også økologisk. Verden bliver mindre – der handles med landbrugsprodukter på kryds og tværs i verden. I supermarkedets økologiafdeling kan man ikke kun få kalvekød og mælk fra danske økologiske landmænd, men også økologiske oste fra Frankrig, økologiske æbler fra Argentina, økologiske bananer fra Mellemamerika og økologiske appelsiner fra Sydamerika. Danske økologiske svin og fjerkræ fodres med sojakager fra Bolivia og solsikkekager fra Ukraine. Er det bæredygtigt? Er det fair trade? Hvad med certificeringen? Hvordan påvirker det de sydamerikanske økologiske bønders fødevaresikkerhed? Kan økologien brødføde verden? Hvordan skal dansk økologisk jordbrug forholde sig til denne globalisering af økologien? I en ny vidensyntese af Forskningscenter for Økologisk Jordbrug (FØJO) sættes disse spørgsmål til diskussion. Vidensyntesen skal munde ud i en rapport og arbejdsfolkene bag er en samling af danske og udenlandske forskere. Læs mere om vidensyntesen på http://ecowiki.org/GlobalPerspective. Vidensyntesen rummer diskussioner af begreberne globalisering og bæredygtighed i relation til økologisk jordbrug og fremviser forskellige syn på økonomi og handel i relation til global økologi. Status og muligheder for økologisk produktion i U-lande diskuteres, herunder bl.a. effekten på jordens frugtbarhed. Effekten af global økologi på fødevaresikkerhed og -forsyning belyses dernæst og endelig diskuteres forskningens og formidlingens rolle. Verden har udviklet sig over de sidste årtier. Moderne landbrugsmetoder har givet store stigninger i produktiviteten – højere kornudbytter per ha, højere mælkeydelse per ko, mere produktion per ansat. Hvis der er tilstrækkelige mængder input, viden og evner til stede, kan der produceres store mængder fødevarer. Men mange bønder i U-lande er fattige og afskårede fra input og markedet og 790 millioner mennesker sulter stadig. De miljømæssige effekter af landbrugsproduktionen viser sig i form af pres på biodiversitet, jord, rent drikkevand m.v. Den stigende handel og aktivitet på tværs af landegrænser, som vi kalder globalisering, er bl.a. drevet af udviklingen af Internet, mobiltelefoner m.m. Stigninger i lang-distance handel med fødevarer, global koncentration i fødevareforarbejdningsindustri og supermarkedskæder samt kostændringer er tegn på globalisering af fødevaresystemerne. Nogle lande har været meget succesfulde i at integrere deres fødevareøkonomi i det hurtigt voksende globale marked, hvorimod det er mislykkedes for andre. En af bekymringerne ved en stigende integration af de globale markeder er den stigende marginalisering at visse lande eller sociale grupper i visse lande. Spørgsmålet er hvorvidt en voksende global handel med økologiske fødevarer kan bidrage positivt til denne udvikling - er det en bæredygtig udvikling? Bæredygtighed handler både om sociale, økonomiske og miljømæssige forhold. Er global handel med økologiske fødevarer bæredygtigt i relation til miljø, fossilt brændstof til transport m.m.? Hvad med nærhedsprincippet? Og er det bæredygtigt i forhold til sociale forhold – giver det øget fødevaresikkerhed for mennesker i U-lande? Eller er det uetisk at anbefale økologisk jordbrug til fattige bønder i U-lande? Og hvad med de danske økologiske landmænd? Skal vi ikke handle lokalt og støtte de danske landmænd

Bæredygtighed og Økologi

Præsentation om miljøpåvirkning fra fødevareproduktion. Præsenteret på Økologi Kongressen 2019

SustainOrganic: Dokumenterbare bæredygtige fødevareindkøb for professionelle køkkener

Baggrund: Kostsammensætningen rummer et af de største potentialer for reduktion af klimapåvirkningen fra vores fødevaresystemer. For at kunne nå klimamålene i Parisaftalen og FN’s verdensmål, er det nødvendigt at optimere kostsammensætningen. Økologisk fødevareproduktion kan bidrage til at opnå en række fælles goder som reduceret brug af pesticider, forbedret biodiversitet, forbedret jordkvalitet samt beskæftigelse og merværdi af produktionen i landdistrikterne. Markedet, som f.eks. professionelle køkkener, efterspørger klimavenlig mad og bæredygtig mad, men de har ingen værktøjer til at tage hensyn til disse aspekter i deres praktiske måltidstilrettelæggelse. Formål: Organic RDD-projektet SustainOrganic fokuserer på at kortlægge de mest gængse fødevarers påvirkning på miljøet ud fra livscyklusanalyser. Formålet er at kortlægge økologiske fødevares påvirkning på miljøet og at skabe en dokumenteret bæredygtig guideline for sammensætning af fødevareindkøb til storkøkkene

Vejen til det bæredygtige robuste landbrug – fokus på metoder

Præsentation om klima- og miljøpåvirkning fra fødevareproduktion. Præsenteret som keynote præsentation ved Økologikongres 2021

Miljømæssig bæredygtighed af grønt protein

Foreløbige resultater fra systemanalyse af bioaffinering af økologisk græskløver

Sustainability in organic agriculture and food

Præsentation om bæredygtighed af økologiske fødevarer og økologiske landbrug ved et Nordisk baltisk seminar arrangeret i et samarbejde mellem Landbrugsstyrelsen og Fødevarestyrelsen