LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA) OF ORGANIC FOOD

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA) LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA) OF ORGANIC FOOD

B M i T d K dBy Marie Trydeman Knudsen

Who am I? Who are you?

P d A h U i i

Who am I? Who are you?

Post doc at Aarhus University

PhD study: Life Cycle Assessment of importedi d torganic products

Brazil: Organic orange production China: Organic soybean production

Working for ICROFS USA USA

MSc agronomy: Intercropping of legumes and cereals Indonesia: Agroforestry

Today’s programmeToday s programme

Growing market and demands for organic products

Life Cycle Assessment: a tool to assess environmental impacts

How to do a Life Cycle Assessment?How to do a Life Cycle Assessment? Your own case study… A case study on orange juice

Life cycle assessment of organic and conventional food

Ch ll f lif l t Challenges for life cycle assessments

A case study: LCA of organic soybean from Chinay g y

Increasing market for organic foodIncreasing market for organic food

51

40

50

US

dolla

rs

23

33

20

30

ues

in b

illio

n 15

0

10

1999 2003 2005 2008

Rev

enu

1999 2003 2005 2008

Production of organic foodProduction of organic food Organic food from all over the worldOrganic food from all over the world

Organic food from all over the worldOrganic food from all over the world Eksport af landbrugsprodukter fra Afrika

What concerns organic consumers?

What are the environmental implicationsWhat are the environmental implicationswhen I buy imported organic products?

How much does the transportation meanHow much does the transportation meanwith regard to global warming?

Are the organic systems more g yenvironmentally friendly than the conventional systems in those countries?

Market demand for producersMarket demand for producers

Documentation Organic certifications

Other

Improvementsp








Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) – a toolLife Cycle Assessment (LCA) – a tool

What is the environmental impact of a product?

A product-oriented tool to assess the ressource use and environmental impact through a product’s life cycle

Agricultural d ti

transport

Processing

transport

Packaging S k t

transport

Production f i t

transport

production Processing plant

Packaging Supermarketof inputs

What are the environmental impacts?What are the environmental impacts?

<Udfyld sidefod-oplysninger her>

What are the environmental impacts?What are the environmental impacts?

Global warming Nutrient enrichmentGlobal warming Nutrient enrichment

AcidificationAcidification Ozone depletion

Photochemical smog

Land use

Biodiversity

Land use

Biodiversity

SmellToxicity

Noise








How to use an LCA approach?How to use an LCA approach?

Emissions to air (N2O, NH3, CO2 etc.)

transport transport transporttransport

Input Production Juice Juice Import to production of oranges concentrate

factoryfactory Denmark

Emissions to soil and water (NO3-, pesticides etc.)


INVENTORY

INPUT

Materials

Fertilizer

Etc.

OUTPUT

Crop yield

Residues or co-productOrange

Energy

Fuel

Electricity

Etc.

Chemicals

Pesticides

Etc.

Other

production


Other

Land use

Etc.

Agricultural

transport

Processing

transport transport

Production

transport

production Processing Packaging Supermarketof inputs

RESULTSINVENTORYProduction of inputs

Eutrophication potential

D t ll ti E

transport

Agricultural production

Global warming potential

Data collection

via

questionnaire

Energy use

transport

Processing plant

Acidification potential

Ecotoxicity potentialg p

transport

y p

Packaging

transport

Consumer

How to use an LCA approach?How to use an LCA approach?

Life cycle assessment framework

Goal and scopedefinition

Inventoryanalysis

Intrepretationanalysis

Impact Impact assessment

Goal and scope definition

• Objective?

Goal and scope definition


• Objective?• Comparative or hotspot

analysis?

• Intended application?


• Intended application?

• Functional unit?• Per farm per ha per kg

Inventoryanalysis

Intrepretation

• Per farm, per ha, per kg product?

• Impact categories?analysis

Impact

p g• Which are relevant?

• Which can be covered by LCA?Impact

assessment• System boundaries and

allocation?• Are there several

products from oneprocess? Allocation…

Example: p

LCA of organic orange juiceObjective



ObjectiveInventoryanalysis

Impact assessment

Intrepretation

To compare the environment impacts in the production of organic oranges at small-scale farms with organic large-scale farms and or oranges at small-scale farms with organic large-scale farms and or small-scale conventional farms in Brazil.

To identify the environmental hotspots in the product chain of To identify the environmental hotspots in the product chain of organic orange juice from small-scale Brazilian farms imported to Denmark.

transport transport transporttransport

Input production

Production of oranges

Juice concentrate

factory, Brazil

Juice factory,

Germany

Import to Denmark

Functional unitGoal and scopedefinition


Functional unitInventoryanalysis

Impact assessment

Intrepretation

One tonne of oranges produced in the State of São Paulo, Brazil leaving farm gate

One litre of organic orange juice grown and processed to concentrate in Brazil reconstituted and imported to retail distribution centre in DenmarkBrazil, reconstituted and imported to retail distribution centre in Denmark

Impact categoriesGoal and scopedefinition


Impact categoriesInventoryanalysis

Impact assessment

Intrepretation

EutrophicationGlobal warming

Non-renewable energy use

Acidification

Biodiversity Land use

System boundaries and allocationGoal and scopedefinition


System boundaries and allocationInventoryanalysis

Impact assessment

Intrepretation

TRANSPORT STAGETRANSPORT STAGE

Reefer16 t28 t 28 t16 t 40 t

90 km(for manure)

120 km 320 km 10040 km 530 km 896 km

Production of inputs

Production of oranges

Frozen concentrated orange juice production

Reconstitution of orange juice Retail

distribution centre in Denmark

Orange residue pellet production

Avoided barley production

In BrazilIn Germany

FARM STAGE JUICE PROCESSING STAGEINPUT STAGE

production

Inventory analysisInventory analysis

Life cycle assessment framework • Collect information• Where and how?

Goal and scopedefinition • Emissions?

Inventoryanalysis

Intrepretation

• Which are importantfor the impactcategories?

• How to estimateanalysis

Impact

• How to estimatethem?

Impact assessment

INVENTORY – farm studiesINVENTORY farm studies

ORGANICSmall-scale

ORGANIC large-scale

CONVENTIONAL small-scale

Number of farms 5 2 6

Farm area (ha) 33 5817 32

Orange area (%) 28% 12% 65%

Main crops Orange, mango, lime

Orange Orangelime

Other crops Tomato, sugar cane, avocado,

corn

no no

Animals (LU/ha) 0.06 0.12 0.51


INVENTORY

INPUT

Materials

Fertilizer

Seeds or seedlings

OUTPUT

Crop yield

Residues or co-productOrange

Energy

Fuel

Natural gas

Electricityy

Chemicals

Pesticides

Cleaning substances

Other

production


Other

Land use

Water use

Agricultural

transport

Processing

transport transport

Production

transport


INVENTORY – inputs and outputsINVENTORY inputs and outputs INVENTORY - Estimate emissionsGoal and scopedefinition


Emissions to air (N2O, NH3 etc.)

INVENTORY Estimate emissionsInventoryanalysis

Impact assessment

Intrepretation

N INPUT

Organic fertilizer

Mineral fertilizer

N OUTPUT

Crop yield

Residues or co-productN balance N2 fixation

Precipitation, deposition

Seeds or seedlings

N BALANCE

IPCC guidelines 2006IPCC guidelines 2006

Emissions to soil and water (NO3- etc.)

N N = N

Denitrification (incl. N2O)

Ammonia loss (NH3)Ninput - Noutput = Nsurplus Nitrate loss (NO3-)

Soil N pool

INVENTORY – estimate emissionsINVENTORY estimate emissions Impact assessmentImpact assessment

Life cycle assessment framework • Emissions areconverted and


aggregated into the chosen impactcategories

Inventoryanalysis

Intrepretationanalysis

ImpactImpactassessment

From emission to impact categoryFrom emission to impact category…

Impact category Unit Contributing elementsCharacterization factors

Land use m2 Land occupation 1 for all types of land use

Non-renewable energy MJNon-renewable energy consumption

1

Global warming CO2 equivalents CO2 1

CH4 25

N2O 298

Acidification SO2 equivalents SO2 1

NH3 1.88

NOx 0.70x

Eutrophication NO3- equivalents NO3

- 1

PO43- 10.45

NH + 3 64NH4 3.64

NOx 1.35

Computer programme LCA-calculationsComputer programme LCA-calculations

Environmental impacts at farm gate

Land use (ha/ t oranges)0.0500.055


Eutrophication(kg NO3-eq / t oranges)

0.044

energy use (MJ/ t oranges)

12659.9

11.3

9528.1

764

AcidificationOrganic, small-scale

0.5

840.7Acidification (kg SO2 eq / t oranges)

Organic, large-scale

Conventional, small-scale1.1

112

114

840.7

Global warming(kg CO2 eq/ t oranges)

Environmental impacts in the chainEnvironmental impacts in the chain

12 104 29 289

INPUT TRANSPORTPROCESSINGFARM

12 104 29 28912 96 71 244

12 43 61 29 9 64 34 12 17012 42 54 71 13 63 39 15 115

Traction Processing Truck transport, juiceShip transport, FCOJ

Truck transport, FCOJ

Truck transport,

oranges

Crop (N2O)

Input production Truck transport, inputs

% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100

Global warming potential (g CO2 eq /kg orange juice)








LCA (carbon footprint) of foodLCA (carbon footprint) of food

Beef, lamb and yellow cheese

kg CO2/kg

11 - 19

Food

Pork, poultry, fish and rice3 - 7

Milk, egg, greenhouse vegetables1,2 - 3,0

Bread, flour, imported fruit and vegetables0,5 – 1,1

Outdoor vegetables, local fruit(apple, pear)

0,1 – 0,5

Carbon footprint of

18 Meat and eggsr kg)

organic vs. conventional food

16

18 Meat and eggs

MilkPlant products

g C

O2 e

q pe

Williams et al. (2006)


12

14

rodu

cts

(kg

Casey & Holden (2006)

20 studies: Organic lower GHG emissions per kg than conventional

8

10

vent

iona

l pr

Hirschfeld et al. (2009)


8 studies: Conventional lower GHG emissions per kg than organic

4

6

ons

for c

onv



Halberg et al. (2006)




0

2

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18HG

em

issi

o Halberg et al. (2006)

GH

GHG emissions for organic products (kg CO2 eq per kg)

Idea after Niggli et al.(2008)

Carbon footprint of

2

kg)

organic vs. conventional food

1,6

1,8Milk

Plant products

CO

2 eq

per k

( )


1,2

1,4

duct

s (k

g C LCAfood (2003)

Thomassen et al. (2006)

0,8

1nt

iona

l pro

d Williams et al. (2006)


14 studies: Organic lower GHG emissions per kg than conventional

3 studies: Conventional lower GHG emissions per kg than organicCederberg & Mattsson (2000)

LCAfood (2003)LCAfood (2003)

0,4

0,6

s fo

r con

ven



0

0,2

em

issi

ons

Halberg & Dalgaard (2006)

de Backer et al. (2009)

Meisterling et al. (2009)

Knudsen et al. Williams et al. (2006)

Knudsen et al. (2010)

Idea after Niggli et al.(2008)

0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 1,2 1,4 1,6 1,8 2

GH

G

GHG emissions for organic products (kg CO2 eq per kg)








Challenges for Life Cycle AssessmentsChallenges for Life Cycle Assessments

How to include problematic impact categories?: Biodiversity Soil

How to account for interactions in farming systems? (especially organic) Livestock

systems

Livestock

systems

How to account for changes in organic C stocks?

ManureManure



Wheat

INPUT OUTPUT



Wheat

INPUT OUTPUT



Wheat

INPUT OUTPUT

CatchcropGreen

manure cropPotatoes Pea-barley

intercrop

CROP ROTATION

CatchcropGreen


intercrop

CROP ROTATION

gFarming system

/ Cultivation

transport

Processing

transport

Packaging Supermarket

transport


transport

Farming system

/ Cultivation

transport

Processing

transport


transport


transport

LCA is focused on emissions and ressource use

Measurable emissions (CO2, SO2 etc.) causing global warming, acidification etc.

Change in biodiversity or soil fertility

How to measure??How to measure??

Measurable emissions (NO3- etc.) causing eutrofication etc.

Biodiversity – a challenging impact category

Knudsen and Halberg (2007)



How to account for interactions in farming systems? (especially organic) Livestock

systems

Livestock

systems


ManureManure



Wheat

INPUT OUTPUT



Wheat

INPUT OUTPUT



Wheat

INPUT OUTPUT

CatchcropGreen


intercrop

CROP ROTATION

CatchcropGreen


intercrop

CROP ROTATION

gFarming system

/ Cultivation

transport

Processing

transport


transport


transport

Farming system

/ Cultivation

transport

Processing

transport


transport


transport


INPUT

CONVENTIONAL

INPUT

Materials

Mineral fertilizer

Deposition

Seeds or seedlings

OUTPUT

Crop yield

Meat and milk yield

R id d tCROPSeeds or seedlings

Energy

Fuel

Natural gas

Residues or co-productCROP

e.g. wheat

Electricity

Chemicals

Pesticides

Cleaning substances


Other

Land use

Water use

Agricultural

transport

Processing

transport transport

Fertilizer

transport

production Processing Packaging Supermarketproduction etc.

ORGANIC

Li t kLivestock

systems

Manure

Emissions to air (N2O, NH3, CO2 etc.)CROP ROTATION ( 2 , 3, 2 )

INPUT OUTPUT

CROP ROTATION

WheatCatch cropGreen


intercrop


Agricultural

transport

Processing

transport transport

Production

transport




How to account for interactions in farming systems? (especially organic)

How to account for changes in organic C stocks?g


Vegetation


• Changes in organic C stocksVegetation

Litter

Soil

– Soil carbon change

– Land use change (LUC)• Direct (new agricultural land for crop production)• Indirect (demand for previous land use move to other places)

Challenge: Changes in soil carbonChallenge: Changes in soil carbon

Final C sequestration

Change in management

Initial C sequestration

in s

oil

C

Time








Environmental assessment of organic soybeang y

- imported to Denmark from China: a case study

Import of organic products to Denmark from Asia

Import from Asia

The soybean chain to Denmark

Case study: Organic soybeans imported to Denmark

20 organic farms

Export from Dalian

20 organic farms

15 conventional farms

Objectives

• To compare the environment impacts in the production of organic and conventional soybean at small scale farms in China soybean at small-scale farms in China.

• To identify the environmental hotspots in the product chain of organic soybean from small-scale Chinese farms imported to Denmark.

Farming system

transport

Processing plant

transport

Packaging Consumer

transport

Fertilizer production

transport

/ Cultivationplantetc.

Studied farms

ORGANIC CONVENTIONAL

Number of farms 20 15

Main crops soybeans and maize soybeans and maize

Farm area (ha) 16 ± 7 6 ± 3

Soybean area (ha) 13 ± 7 5 ± 3Soybean area (ha) 13 ± 7 5 ± 3

Share of crop residues burned in field (%) 0 42

Animals (LU/ha) 0.5 ± 0.3 0.1 ± 0.1

Soybean production

ORGANIC CONVENTIONAL

INPUT

Mineral fertiliser N (kg N/ha) - 47 ± 12

Organic fertiliser N (kg N/ha) 45 ± 13 -

Mi l f tili P (k P/h ) 14 4Mineral fertiliser P (kg P/ha) - 14 ± 4

Seeds (kg/ha) 55 ± 4 57 ± 3

Diesel (L/ha) 30 ± 15 28 ± 14Diesel (L/ha) 30 ± 15 28 ± 14

Labour (days /ha) 52 ± 17 17 ± 4

Percent of labour days spend on 50 ± 10 12 ± 4y pweeding (%)

OUTPUTOUTPUT

Soybean yield (t/ha) 2.8 ± 0.3 3.1 ± 0.3

Environmental impacts at farm gate

Land use (ha/ t soybeans)0.36


Eutrophication(kg NO3-eq / t soybeans)

0.32

energy use (MJ/ t soybeans)

17105.0

13.0

773

Acidification ORGANIC

CONVENTIONAL156

2.3

Acidification (kg SO2 eq / t soybeans)

CONVENTIONAL

4.5 263

156

Global warming(kg CO2 eq/ t soybeans)

Global warming potential (GWP) fororganic soybeans imported to Denmarkorganic soybeans imported to Denmark

INPUT TRANSPORTPROCESSINGFARM

36%3% 11% 51%3% 35%36%3% 11% 51%3% 35%

13 108 43 48 187 16 15

Traction Processing TruckShip RailCrop production (N2O)Inputs

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

Global warming potential (kg CO2 eq./ton soybeans per year)

CONCLUSION

• Organic soybean production in the case study have less environmental impacts per ton soybean compared to conventional.

• Inclusion of soil carbon changes in the calculations would increase the difference in global warming potential between organic and conventional even more.

T t t ib t 50% t th t t l l b l i t ti l f i • Transport contributes 50% to the total global warming potential of organic soybeans produced in Jilin, China and imported to Denmark.

Take home messageTake home message

Documents

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA) OF ORGANIC FOOD