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
5. Conclusion
The main contributions to impact came from feed production for four of the five endpoint indicators. For
climate change, as confirmed in the literature, enteric fermentation is the most important source of emissions
(46%), followed by manure management (27%) and feed production (20%).
The main sources of variability in climate change impacts among provinces were linked to on-farm energy
use (due to different grid mixes), followed by manure management and feed production. Variability in
results is expected to be underestimated in feed production, however, due to the assumption that fertilisation
recommendations were followed.
The main sources of potential impact to ecosystem quality were caused by land use, eutrophication, and
aquatic ecotoxicity from aluminium emissions derived from energy production and high copper concentrations
in mineral supplements. This category was also the most sensitive to geographic locations of farms. For
human health, impacts were driven by respiratory inorganics, mostly NH3 emissions from fertilisers, in housing
and from manure storage. They were followed by NOx and SO2 emissions associated with fossil-fuel use
for energy production in the different stages of lifecycle.
Many ongoing research projects are evaluating mitigation options that would be worth modelling in
“what-if” scenarios. Meanwhile, there are many aspects to consider when evaluating agricultural practices,
and some economic or social trade-offs may require much more analysis. The current study helped outline
the interchangeability of practices and the sensitivity of the geographical context to help guide best practices.
This study acts as a first step in this direction, mapping the road to sustainable milk production in Canada.
6. References
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method. http://www.impactworldplus.org/en/index.php
IDF (International Dairy Federation), 2010. A Common Carbon Footprint Approach for Dairy: The IDF Guide to Standard Lifecycle
Assessment Methodology for the Dairy Sector, http://www.idf-lca-guide.org/Files/media/Documents/445-2010-A-commoncarbon-footprint-approach-for-dairy.pdf
Jolliet O, Margni M, Charles R, Humbert S, Payet J, Rebitzer G and Rosenbaum R, 2003. IMPACT 2002+: A New Life Cycle Impact
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Humbert S, Margni M and Jolliet O, 2011. IMPACT 2002+ User Guide: Draft for version 2.2”. Quantis, Lausanne, Switzerland.
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Office of Dietary Supplements, 2011. Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Zinc, Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of
Health, USA Gov, http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Zinc-HealthProfessional/
Rochette, P., Worth, D., Lemke, B., McConkey B., Pennock, D., Wagner-Riddle C., Desjardins, R., 2008. Estimation of N2O emissions
from agricultural soils in Canada. I. Development of a country-specific methodology, Canadian Journal of Soil Science,
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early season grazing and piosphere effects. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 166-167, 688-698.
Swiss Center for Life Cycle Inventories (SCLCI) (2010) ecoinvent database v2.2. Available at http://www.ecoinvent.org/home/.
van Zelm, R., Schipper, A., Rombouts, M., Snepvangers, J., and Huijbregts, M. (2010). Implementing groundwater extraction in Life
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