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

PARALLEL SESSION 6C: POULTRY AND PORK PRODUCTION SYSTEMS 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
and toxicity. These differences are explained by the different cropping practise in organic and conventional
agriculture. In organic agriculture, the abandonment of pesticides leads to lower toxic impacts and the application
of organic instead of mineral fertilisers increases ammonia emissions (e.g. in pig production: terr.
eutrophication is 1.9 m 2 per kg LW in conventional production vs. 4.19 m 2 per kg LW under organic farming)
but reduces the use of phosphorus and potassium resources compared to conventional farming. Lower
yields per area in organic farming require a larger area for feed production.
Figure 1. Relative environmental impacts for 1 kg of pork at farm gate and at the retail store for three production
systems in Switzerland. 100% = conventional production in Switzerland.
Figure 2. Relative environmental impacts for 1 kg of chicken meat at farm gate and at the retail store for
three production systems in Switzerland. 100% = conventional production in Switzerland.
Figure 2 also clearly indicates the difference in efficiency of the chicken production systems. Animals in
label and organic production have a lower fattening performance (see Table 2), mainly due to the use of
slower growing strains which are better adapted to label production conditions. Comparing conventional and
label production at the farm level, label production has around 30% higher environmental impacts than conventional
production (e.g. energy demand is 17.3 for conventional and 26.93 MJ-eq. per kg LW for organic
chicken meat, respectively), which is more or less the same as difference in fattening performance. In pig
production, the differences between conventional production and production under improved animal welfare
conditions are minor, as the level of productivity (daily gains, feed conversion, etc.) remains more or less the
556
250%
200%
150%
100%
50%
0%
300%
250%
200%
150%
100%
50% 50%
0%
Energy demand, non renewable
Energy demand, non renewable
Energy demand, non renewable
Energy demand, non renewable
conv. label organic
post-agricultural processes
Global warming potential
Global warming potential
Ozone formation (Vegetation)
Ozone formation (Vegetation)
Ozone formation (Human)
Ozone formation (Human)
conv. label organic
post-agricultural processes
Global warming potential
Global warming potential
Ozone formation (Vegetation)
Ozone formation (Vegetation)
Ozone formation (Human)
Ozone formation (Human)
Resources (phosphorus)
Resources (phosphorus)
Resources (phosphorus)
Resources (phosphorus)
Resources (potassium)
Resources (potassium)
Resources (potassium)
Resources (potassium)
Land competition, arable
Land competition, arable
Land competition, arable
Land competition, arable
Deforestation
Deforestation
Deforestation
Deforestation
Water use (blue water)
Water use (blue water)
Water use (blue water)
Water use (blue water)
Eutrophication terr.
Eutrophication terr.
Eutrophication terr.
Eutrophication terr.
Eutrophication aq. N
Eutrophication aq. N
Eutrophication aq. N
Eutrophication aq. N
Eutrophication aq. P
Eutrophication aq. P
Eutrophication aq. P
Eutrophication aq. P
Acidification
Acidification
Acidification
Acidification
Ecotox terr.
Ecotox terr.
Ecotox terr.
Ecotox terr.
Ecotox aq.
Ecotox aq.
Ecotox aq.
Ecotox aq.
Human tox
Human tox
Human tox
Human tox