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
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
Assessment of existing and potential cereal food and non food uses by
combining E-LCA and S-LCA
68
Florence Van Stappen 1 * , Alice Delcour 2,4 , Stéphanie Gheysens 3 , Virginie Decruyenaere 3 , Didier Stilmant 4 ,
Philippe Burny 2 , Fabienne Rabier 5 , Jean-Pierre Goffart 2
1
Biomass, Bioproducts and Energy Unit, Walloon Agricultural Research Centre (CRA-W), 146 chaussée de Namur, 5030 Gembloux,
Belgium
2
Crops Production Systems Unit, CRA-W, 4 rue du Bordia, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium
3
Animal Breeding, Quality Production and Welfare Unit, CRA-W, 8 rue de Liroux, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium
4
Farming Systems, Territories and Information Technology Unit, CRA-W, 100 rue du Serpont, 6800 Libramont, Belgium
5
Agricultural Machines and Facilities Unit, CRA-W, 146 chaussée de Namur, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium
Corresponding author. E-mail: vanstappen@cra.wallonie.be
ABSTRACT
In Wallonia (Belgium), 60% of the arable cropped area is dedicated to cereals. More than a half of the cereal chains are currently
turned towards animal feed. Direct human food uses barely reach 10% of the grain production. Non food uses are growing, with 16%
of the Walloon cereal production converted into bioethanol or biogas. Based on a comprehensive description of the Walloon cereal
sector, the project ALT-4-CER considers opportunities for food, feed, fuel and fibre uses of Walloon cereal resources (“4F” scenarios)
through an exhaustive comparison of existing and potential conversion chains. Scenarios are evaluated regarding environmental
and socio-economic aspects through Life Cycle Analyses fed by region-specific data. Environmental LCA aims at identifying territorial
differences regarding the cultivation step in comparison with data from commonly used databases. Beside E-LCA, a Social LCA
methodology is being elaborated. Environmental and socio-economic assessment results will then be integrated thanks to multicriteria
analysis.
Keywords: cereals, life cycle assessment (LCA), environmental impact, socio-economic impact, decision making
1. Introduction
In the present sustainable development framework, agriculture raises major concerns in terms of productions
and farmers’ income diversification, competition for arable land between food and non food uses, employment
preservation or creation in rural areas, climate change mitigation and natural resources protection.
Current environmental policies and regulations aim at moving towards more sustainable production and
consumption pathways. This transition requires the improvement of the energy, environmental and social
balances of considered processes and reference systems. This shift also involves the search for new and alternative
uses of agricultural resources, products and co-products.
In Wallonia (Belgium), more than 60% of the arable cropped area is dedicated to cereals (DGSIE 2010).
In the current context of non renewable energy sources depletion and growing world population, competition
for cereal resources requires the identification of the most sustainable scenarios for agricultural products and
co-products use.
Nowadays most Walloon cereal chains are classically turned towards human food and animal feed. Key
opportunities for non food uses are considered in a sustainable development perspective. But this can only be
achieved through an exhaustive comparison of environmental and socio-economic impacts of existing and
potential cereal chains.
2. Objectives
Comparing current and potential cereal uses in Wallonia, the overall goal of the 3-year project “Alternatives
for Cereals – ALT-4-CER”, started in March 2011, is to define and to evaluate alternative scenarios for
food and non food uses of cereal resources in Wallonia with the support of involved stakeholders.
In order to depict comprehensively the Walloon cereal landscape the project firstly aimed at elaborating
scenarios for food, feed, fuel and fibre uses of cereal resources in Wallonia (so-called “4F” scenarios). Scenarios
definition was supported by the consultation of all involved actors (producers, wholesalers, processors,
consumers, and decision-makers) in order to ensure a further scientific approach based on realistic existing
and potential cases. Scenarios take into account interactions between chains and their co-products, as
well as potential impacts on the agricultural landscape and land occupation in Wallonia.
On the basis of these scenarios the project is evaluating their environmental impacts through the development
of Environmental Life Cycle Assessments (E-LCA) adapted to the local context, fed with specific
data collected for Wallonia. Furthermore methodological choices regarding system boundaries, technological
options, data quality, co-product treatment, or result interpretation must be justified and their sensitivity
tested.