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

GROUP 6, SESSION B: METHODS, TOOLS, DATABASES 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
153. A software and database platform for multi-criteria assessment of
agri-food systems
Hayo van der Werf 1,2,* , Julie Auberger 1,2 , Coralie Haese 1,2 , Geneviève Gésan-Guiziou 2,3 , Joël Aubin 1,2
1 INRA, UMR1069 Sol, Agro and hydroSystem, 35000 Rennes, France, 2 Agrocampus Ouest, 35000 Rennes,
France, 3 INRA, UMR1253 Science et Technologie du Lait et de l’Œuf, 35042 Rennes, France, Corresponding
author. E-mail: hayo.vanderwerf@rennes.inra.fr
INRA, the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, aims to improve the environmental, societal
and economic performances of agriculture, and to favour healthy and sustainable food systems. Research
conducted to reach these objectives should consider and integrate many criteria. The development of tools
for the multi-criteria assessment of the production and transformation of agricultural products is of strategic
importance, to guide the evolution towards sustainable agri-food systems. INRA has therefore decided to
develop an in-house platform for the multi-criteria sustainability assessment of agri-food systems. The objectives
of the platform are:
To develop user-friendly multi-criteria assessment tools and associated databases for agri-food systems,
To train future users, give support to users
To provide a science and technology watch on multi-criteria assessment
Many methods have been proposed for the multi-criteria assessment of the environmental, societal and economic
impacts of farming systems (van der Werf and Petit, 2002; Bockstaller et al., 2008). These methods
present a similar structure, often consisting of eight stages (Acosta-Alba and van der Werf, 2011): 1) Definition
of the sustainability dimensions to be assessed, 2) Identification of objectives for each dimension, 3)
Selection or conception of indicators for each objective, 4) System definition, 5) Definition of calculation
algorithms for each indicator, 6) Technical description of the system, 7) Calculation of indicator values, 8)
Interpretation of results, identification of improvement options (Table 1).
In spite of their similar structure, these methods present an amazing diversity in their implementation, and
the outcome of studies using different methods to assess contrasting systems depends to a large extent on the
characteristics of the methods used (van der Werf et al., 2007). Methods differ amongst others with respect
to system definition (inclusion of inputs to the system assessed), issues of concern considered, type of indicators
(means-based vs effect-based) and expression of results (per ha or per kg of product) depending on identified
functions.
Initially the platform will focus on the multi-criteria assessment of environmental impacts through Life Cycle
Assessment (LCA). The implementation of societal and economic dimensions in methods for multicriteria
assessment will be pursued, in particular, but not exclusively, via the concept of Life Cycle Sustainability
Assessment. The platform will allow the implementation of both LCA-type methods and other methods
for the multi-criteria assessment of agri-food systems (e.g. Ecological Footprint, Emergy). This will be
done by conforming the architecture of the platform to the eight stages of multi-criteria assessment methods
outlined above (Fig. 1).The platform will be complementary to other INRA software platforms, and in particular
to the RECORD platform (http://www4.inra.fr/record), for the modelling and simulation of crop and
farm systems.
References
Acosta-Alba, I., van der Werf, H.M.G., 2011. The use of reference values in indicator-based methods for the
environmental assessment of agricultural systems. Sustainability, 3, 424-442.
Bockstaller, C., Guichard, L., Makowski, D., Aveline, A., Girardin, P., Plantureux, S., 2008. Agrienvironmental
indicators to assess cropping and farming systems. A review. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 28,
139-149.
Van der Werf, H.M.G., Petit, J., 2002. Evaluation of the environmental impact of agriculture at the farm
level: a comparison and analysis of 12 indicator-based methods. Agr., Ecosyst. Environ., 93, 131-145.
Van der Werf, H.M.G., Tzilivakis, J., Lewis, K., Basset-Mens, C, 2007. Environmental impacts of farm scenarios
according to five assessment methods. Agr., Ecosyst. Environ., 118: 327-338.
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