LCA Food 2012 in Saint Malo, France! - Manifestations et colloques ...

PARALLEL SESSION 3C: SHEEP AND DAIRY PRODUCTION SYSTEMS 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
Regionalised land use impact modelling of milk production in the U.S.
Rosie Saad 1,* , Dominique Maxime 2 , Manuele Margni 2
1
Quantis, 395 Laurier Ouest, Montreal, QC, H2V 2K3, Canada ;
2
CIRAIG, Mathematical and Industrial Engineering Departement, P.O. Box 6079, École Polytechnique de Montréal (Qc), Canada
H3C 3A7
Corresponding author. E-mail: rosie.saad@quantis-intl.com
ABSTRACT
As a natural resource essential in the food and agriculture sector, the sustainable use of land requires informed decisions based on a
meaningful impact assessment. However, most studies addressing milk and dairy-based products account for land use impacts as an
inventory data related, by simply reporting the amount in square meters of land occupied or transformed within a time span. Part of
an US fluid milk beyond carbon Life Cycle Assessment study, this project aims to provide insights on a regionalized assessment of
land use impacts related to milk production. The main focus is to assess the role of dairy livestock, for which different supply mix
models and feed produced at different states locations were assumed in the ration. A spatial differentiated approach was considered,
using regionalized impact factors at the state level to address potential land use impacts.
Keywords: land use, impact, spatial, milk, LCA
1. Introduction
Land is a natural resource that is often taken for granted, yet essential in the food and agriculture sector.
Thus, a sustainable use of land requires informed decisions based on a meaningful impact assessment in Life
Cycle Assessment (LCA), a decision-support tool used to address potential environmental impacts of a
product over its entire life cycle. So far, most studies addressing milk and dairy-based products account for
land use impacts based on an inventory data related, simply by reporting the amount in hectare or square
meters of land occupied or transformed within a time span (Thomassen et al., 2008; Basset-Mens et al.,
2009; Roy et al., 2009).
In light of its extremely slow renewal rate (Pimentel et al., 1987), soil is considered to be a non-renewable
resource. Though unintentional, mechanisms of natural environment quality deterioration induce substantial
changes in land cover and land use, constituting a primary source of soil degradation (Lambin et al., 2001).
While such impacts are highly relevant from an environmental perspective, the development of land use
impact assessment methods are still in their infancy. Most methods found in the literature account for
impacts on biodiversity and are limited to one geographical scope (e.g. Europe) resulting in damages to
ecosystem quality. Recent developments have advanced the necessity to address impacts on soil ecological
functions and their contribution to ecosystem services (Mila i Canals et al., 2007; LULCIA, 2008-2012).
1.1. Goal and scope
This project is part of US fluid milk comprehensive LCA study (Jolliet et al., 2012). The system boundaries
include the upstream processes up to the farm-gate level, namely feed production (on farm and purchased),
fertilisers and pesticides application, animal and manure management as well as the downstream
processes, such as milk processing, transportation/distribution, retail and use at the consumer level. The
functional unit is defined as one kg of fat protein corrected milk (FPCM).
The main goal of this paper is to provide insights on a regionalised assessment of land use impacts related
to milk production in the US with a particular focus on the feed production life cycle stage and soil ecological
functions impact indicators and biodiversity.
2. Methods
2.1. Life Cycle Inventory
From a Life Cycle inventory perspective, land occupation processes needed at each life cycle stage are
accounted for. The corresponding inventory flows are measured in units of area used during a period of time
(m 2 .year). For feed production, land occupation flows refer to agricultural activities, which were assumed to
occur in existing agricultural land in the U.S. Thus, no land transformation was assumed. In addition, it is
considered that the land is occupied during the year long for agricultural use, independently of the length of
the growing season.
315