Farm Life Cycle Assessment

This report is the result of a mandate issued by the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG) with a view to developing and testing an environmental management tool for farms, based on the life cycle assessment method. In keeping with the strategic objective of the FOAG, this tool is meant to make available to the farmer indicators enabling him to gauge the environmental conformity of his farm, to compare his farm with other farms, and to develop corrective measures where appropriate. In harmony with these objectives, the life cycle assessment method has been adapted to the distinctive environmental features of the common farm types in Switzerland, and to their main produce (milk, meat, arable farming, forage, fruit, winegrowing), with the exception of market-gardens. In order to evaluate the impact of producing the different crops and produce, it was first of all necessary to create a schematic description of the farm in conformity with ISO standards on life cycle assessment 14040 and following, which enabled us to attribute material and energy flows to different groups of agricultural produce, and to quantify them. The often complex allocation procedures were carried out with the help of the producer. ... Correlations between the nine environmental impacts were calculated, and showed that it is justified to group certain ones together according to impact type. This led us to simplify the interpretation of the results and to present the latter in the form of environmental indicators representing three impact groups reflecting three types of pollution playing a major role in agriculture, to wit: _ Use of fossil energy resources, with which the greenhouse effect, ozone formation and human toxicity are closely related. This indicator reflects the effectiveness of the use of infrastructure as well as of numerous means of production such as fuels. _ Global eutrophication, an impact correlated with terrestrial eutrophication and soil acidification. This indicator enables us to judge the effective control of the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles during agricultural production, both plant and animal. _ Terrestrial and aquatic ecotoxicity. These two closely interrelated indicators express the environmental impact caused by inputs high in toxic pollutants, such as the application of pesticides or fertilisers with a high heavy-metal content. ... A major objective of this project was to propose a simplified environmental management tool for the farm which is easy and quick to use as well as user-friendly. This was achieved by simplifying the three groups of indicators described above, so as to limit the data-collection work and make the interpretation of the data easier for an agricultural consultant. The simplified tool will be improved by current developments in agro-ecological research, which will ensure increased reliability in the medium term. It would also be wise to test the tool on an independent sample, in order to make sure that the missing information will have no bearing on environmental management. Successful implementation in practice presupposes a plan of action on two levels: _ automation of the collection of production data at farm level, indispensable for meeting budgetary constraints and increasing the chances of success with the farmers_ development of centres of competence in environmental management based on life cycle assessment in agricultural extension services and its affiliated organisations, so that the latter may serve as competent, recognised and effective contacts for the farmers. In addition, greater integration of environmental management in the basic training of farmers should be promoted. It is with the aid of these investments, both on the part of research and agricultural extension services, that it will be possible to fulfil the ambition of offering a reliable, relatively inexpensive environmental management tool with an acceptable workload.