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

PARALLEL SESSION 1B: TOWARDS LIFE CYCLE SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Parallel session 1b: Towards Life Cycle Susta inability Assessment
62
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
Holistic sustainability assessment of winter oilseed rape production
using the AgBalance TM method – an example of ‘sustainable
intensification’?
Markus Frank 1 *, Jan Schöneboom 2 , Martijn Gipmans 3 , Peter Saling 2
1 BASF SE,APD/S, Speyrer Strasse 2, 67117 Limburgerhof, Germany
2 BASF SE, Sustainability Center, ZZS/SE – Z7, 67056 Ludwigshafen, Germany
3 BASF Plant Science Company GmbH, c/o metanomics GmbH, Tegeler Weg 33, 10589, Berlin, Germany
Corresponding author. E-mail: markus.frank@basf.com
ABSTRACT
AgBalance TM is a holistic method to quantify the sustainability performance of agricultural production systems. It combines LCA
with environmental, economic and social impact indicators, generalized to varying spatial scales. AgBalance comprises up to 70
sustainability indicators, based on a significantly larger number of input data and parameters. The indicators are grouped into the
three dimensions environmental, social and economic sustainability impacts. Both detailed in-depth results of individual impact
indicators, as well as aggregated results are output of AgBalance. We present herein results of a case study on oilseed rape production
, comparing the average good agricultural practices of 1998 and 2008 at the state level (State Mecklenburg-West Pomerania,
North-East Germany). For the functional unit of providing one ton of rapeseed a the field border, the aggregated results indicate
significant improvements in the overall sustainability single score and particularly in the environmental aggregated score, for the2008
production protocol. Using scenario analysis, the use of fertilisers including denitrification-inhibitors such as ENTEC ® 26, was investigated,
which is linked to potentially significant reductions in N2O field emissions.
Keywords: ecoefficiency analysis, Social Life Cycle Assessment, scenario analysis, winter oilseed rape, denitrification inhibitors
1. Introduction and goal
Most of the existing methods to assess agricultural sustainability for farm or crop management (e.g. Bockstaller
et al., 2008, 2009; Field to Market 2009; Grenz et al., 2009) are not based upon a life cycle approach
or do not address all dimensions of sustainability in a holistic manner. In building on the environmental impacts
and economic costs assessed in BASF’s Eco-efficiency Analysis (Saling et al., 2002) and the social
impact indicators in SEEBALANCE® (Schmidt et al., 2004; Kölsch et al., 2008), BASF has designed Ag-
Balance TM as a new method to assess the sustainability performance of agricultural production systems. Ag-
Balance in addition contains a range of new agriculture-specific indicators, which were identified and developed
in a dialogue with various stakeholders, specifically addressing biodiversity and soil quality. This new
method is created to assess and manage continuous improvement in sustainable agriculture at several levels:
(1) for the farmer, by assessing current practices and developing scenarios for improved processes, (2) for
the agri-food value chain, by assessing agriculture’s contribution over the complete product life cycle and
developing options for improvement, and (3) for policy makers, by assessing the impact of regulations on
products and farming practices.
Here, we present results of an AgBalance TM case study on winter oilseed rape production at the geographical
level of Northern German state Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. Recent reports indicate that oilseed rape production
has seen a substantial increase in productivity and profitability for the farmers over the last decade
(AgMRC 2012). Whether or not this intensification has come at the expense of increased impacts on environment
and society, however, remained unclear. The goal of the study therefore was to investigate the sustainability
performance of state-of-the art winter oilseed-rape production in the study region, and compare it
to the period ten years before, by assessing holistically environmental, social and economic sustainability
impacts with a focus on the on-farm activities.
2. Methods and scope of the study
The AgBalance methodology (Schoeneboom 2012a, Schoeneboom 2012b) is based on BASF’s Eco-
Efficiency Analysis and SEEBALANCE® methods for quantitative sustainability impact assessment (Saling
et al., 2002, Schmidt et al., 2005, Kölsch 2008). It includes an environmental LCA for several impact categories,
based on mandatory and optional parts of the ISO 14040 and 14044 standards for life cycle assessment.
Furthermore, recommendations of the UNEP/SETAC working group for social LCA as well as the SA8000
and ISO26000SR standards were followed in the development of the methodology. The results from the
individual impact categories were weighted and aggregated as outlined in Saling et al., (2002) and Kicherer
et al., (2007). The method received independent assurance of functionality and coherence from DNV Business
Assurance, TÜV Süd and the National Sanitation Foundation (BASF 2011).