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
161. Design of a model for estimating LCI data by means of the Farm
Accountancy Data Network. A citrus case study
J. Ribal 1,* , N. Sanjuan 2 , G. Clemente 2 , M.L. Fenollosa 1
1 Departamento de Economía y Ciencias Sociales. Universitat Politecnica de Valencia. Camí de Vera s/n
46022 València. Spain, 2 ASPA Group. Food Technology Department. Universitat Politecnica de Valencia.
Camí de Vera s/n 46022 València. Spain, Corresponding author. E-mail: frarisan@esp.upv.es
To carry out a Life Cycle Assessment means collecting a large amount of data. In agricultural production
systems gathering of LCI data is specific for each study by surveying farmers or building scenarios after
interviews with experts. According to Roches et al. (2010) different strategies are used to overcome the lack
of relevant LCI and LCIA data: use of proxy data and generalisation, streamlined LCA and adaptation/extrapolation
of inventories. In this work we have used a proxy methodology in order to obtain a
straightforward procedure so as to estimate the order of magnitude of inventory data in agricultural systems
The main source of the model is the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). FADN is an instrument for
evaluating the income of agricultural holdings and the impacts of the Common Agricultural Policy. It gathers
accountancy data from farms, mainly production costs and revenues. In each country a structured cost sheet
is available for each family crop, region and economic size. Each cost sheet represents the average farm in
each group. Additionally our model uses specific data of each crop and geographical area. Fig. 1 shows the
outline of the model.
Thus the objective of the model is to estimate the LCI from the data of the FADN and then to carry out an
impact assessment. To test and contrast the model a case study in orange citrus has been built comparing the
results with Ribal et al. (2010).
This model would allow obtaining environmental impacts at a macro level in order to quantify eco-efficiency
of crop production or to measure the value added integrating environmental impacts.
References
Ribal, J.; Sanjuan, N.; Clemente, G.; Fenollosa, M.L. 2009. Medición de la eco-eficiencia en procesos productivos
en el sector agrario. Caso de estudio sobre producción de cítricos. Economía agraria y recursos
naturales. 9, 125-148.
Roches, A.; Nemececk, T.; Gaillard, G.;Plassman, K.; Sim, S.; King, H.; Milà i Canals, L. 2010. MEX-
ALCA: a modular method for the extrapolation of crop LCA. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.
15,842-854.
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