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Resource use and environmental impacts from Australian export lamb production: A life cycle assessment
Abstract
This study conducted a life cycle assessment (LCA) investigating energy, land occupation, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, fresh water consumption and stress-weighted water use from production of export lamb in the major production regions of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. The study used data from regional datasets and case study farms, and applied new methods for assessing water use using detailed farm water balances and water stress weighting. Land occupation was assessed with reference to the proportion of arable and non-arable land and allocation of liveweight (LW) and greasy wool was handled using a protein mass method. Fossil fuel energy demand ranged from 2.5 to 7.0 MJ/kg LW, fresh water consumption from 58.1 to 238.9 L/kg LW, stress-weighted water use from 2.9 to 137.8 L H2O-e/kg LW and crop land occupation from 0.2 to 2.0 m2/kg LW. Fossil fuel energy demand was dominated by on-farm energy demand, and differed between regions and datasets in response to production intensity and the use of purchased inputs such as fertiliser. Regional fresh water consumption was dominated by irrigation water use and losses from farm water supply, with smaller contributions from livestock drinking water. GHG emissions ranged from 6.1 to 7.3 kg CO2-e/kg LW and additional removals or emissions from land use (due to cultivation and fertilisation) and direct land-use change (due to deforestation over previous 20 years) were found to be modest, contributing between -1.6 and 0.3 kg CO2-e/kg LW for different scenarios assessing soil carbon flux. Excluding land use and direct land-use change, enteric CH4 contributed 83-89% of emissions, suggesting that emissions intensity can be reduced by focussing on flock production efficiency. Resource use and emissions were similar for export lamb production in the major production states of Australia, and GHG emissions were similar to other major global lamb producers. The results show impacts from lamb production on competitive resources to be low, as lamb production systems predominantly utilised non-arable land unsuited to alternative food production systems that rely on crop production, and water from regions with low water stress.
... The volumetric WFs and impacts of water use for beef and sheep production systems in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand have been addressed in the literature (Chatterton et al., 2010;Ridoutt et al., 2012a;Zonderland-Thomassen et al., 2014;Wiedemann et al., 2016a and2016b), however no current literature exists addressing the water demands of Irish, pasture-based beef and sheep production systems using farm-specific data. It is important for the marketability of Irish beef and sheep meat to have access to information on the freshwater demand of these production systems. ...
... A study by Wiedemann et al. (2016a) calculated the total consumptive blue water use of Australian grass-finished beef production systems in eastern Australia as ranging from 118 to 332 l/kg LW. The total volumetric BWF of sheep in this study was 37 l/kg CW, which ranged from 22 to 64 l/kg CW. Wiedemann et al. (2016b) calculated the total consumptive blue water use of Australian lamb from the major production regions of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, reporting a BWF range of 58 to 239 l/kg LW (average LW per lamb was 51 kg). Ridoutt et al. (2012b) reported a volumetric blue WF of Australian lamb, produced in Victoria, of 1831 l per head of lamb (average LW per lamb = 53 kg) with 92% of BW occurring on-farm for livestock drinking water. ...
... (2014) assessed sheep production on several different systems, resulting in an average stress-weighted WF of 0.10 l H 2 O-eq/kg l, of which blue water evapotranspiration on irrigated pasture contributed the most (85% blue water), despite the small areas of land being irrigated (1% of total land area). A study by Wiedemann et al. (2016b) of Australian lamb meat indicated a stress-weighted WF range of 2.9 to 137.8 l H 2 O-eq/kg. The results were influenced by regional WSIs, 0.37 (range 0.01 to 0.82) in lamb production regions. ...
In the context of water use for agricultural production, water footprints (WFs) have become an important sustainability indicator. To understand better the water demand for beef and sheep meat produced on pasture-based systems, a WF of individual farms is required. The main objective of this study was to determine the primary contributors to freshwater consumption up to the farm gate expressed as a volumetric WF and associated impacts for the production of 1 kg of beef and 1 kg of sheep meat from a selection of pasture-based farms for 2 consecutive years, 2014 and 2015. The WF included green water, from the consumption of soil moisture due to evapotranspiration, and blue water, from the consumption of ground and surface waters. The impact of freshwater consumption on global water stress from the production of beef and sheep meat in Ireland was also computed. The average WF of the beef farms was 8391 l/kg carcass weight (CW) of which 8222 l/kg CW was green water and 169 l/kg CW was blue water; water for the production of pasture (including silage and grass) contributed 88% to the WF, concentrate production – 10% and on-farm water use – 1%. The average stress-weighted WF of beef was 91 l H 2 O eq/kg CW, implying that each kg of beef produced in Ireland contributed to freshwater scarcity equivalent to the consumption of 91 l of freshwater by an average world citizen. The average WF of the sheep farms was 7672 l/kg CW of which 7635 l/kg CW was green water and 37 l/kg CW was blue water; water for the production of pasture contributed 87% to the WF, concentrate production – 12% and on-farm water use – 1%. The average stress-weighted WF was 2 l H 2 O eq/kg CW for sheep. This study also evaluated the sustainability of recent intensification initiatives in Ireland and found that increases in productivity were supported through an increase in green water use and higher grass yields per hectare on both beef and sheep farms.
... Impacts are generally reported relative to production (i.e. per kilogram of product) and, therefore, take into account the positive effect that changes in system efficiency may have on environmental indicators such as GHG emissions. LCA has been applied to determine supply chain GHG emissions at the regional or national scale for milk and dairy products (Gollnow et al. 2014), beef (Wiedemann et al. 2015a(Wiedemann et al. , 2016a, export lamb (Wiedemann et al. 2015b(Wiedemann et al. , 2016b and chicken meat (Wiedemann et al. 2012b). The present study provides the first case study and national analysis of GHG emissions from Australian pork production using LCA. ...
... Land-use (LU) and dLUC emissions were assessed for Australian-and imported-crop production systems. The area sown annually to crops has expanded in Australia in the period 1990-2010 (Lesslie and Mewett 2013), and Wiedemann et al. (2016b) suggested that the expansion in land cropped was up to 21% in some states. An analysis of data from the Australian national inventory (Commonwealth of Australia 2015b) showed that annualised emissions associated with conversion of forest land to crop land were 4 755 000 t CO 2 -e in the period 1990-2010 (Commonwealth of Australia 2015c). ...
... When divided by the average total land area sown to crops annually in Australia over the period 1990-2010, annualised emissions from LU and dLUC were -229 and 227 kg CO 2 -e/ha. Differences in LU emissions or sequestration are likely to exist among cropping regions in Australia based on specific management (Wiedemann et al. 2016b). However, in the present study, we accounted LU and dLUC emissions from crop land at the national scale, as suitable disaggregated datasets were not available to assess impacts associated with individual crops or cropping regions. ...
Agricultural industries are under increasing pressure to measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the supply chain. The Australian pork industry has established proactive goals to improve greenhouse-gas (GHG) performance across the industry, but while productivity indicators are benchmarked by industry, similar data have not previously been collected to determine supply chain GHG emissions. To assess total GHG emissions from Australian pork production, the present study conducted a life-cycle assessment of six case study supply chains and the national herd for the year 2010. The study aimed to determine total GHG emissions and hotspots, and to determine the mitigation potential from alternative manure treatment systems. Two functional units were used: 1 kg of pork liveweight (LW) at the farm gate, and 1 kg of wholesale pork (chilled, bone-in) ready for packaging and distribution. Mean GHG emissions from the case study supply chains ranged from 2.1 to 4.5 kg CO2-e/kg LW (excluding land-use (LU) and direct land use-change (dLUC) emissions). Emissions were lowest from the piggeries that housed grower-finisher pigs on deep litter and highest from pigs housed in conventional systems with uncovered anaerobic effluent ponds. Mean contribution from methane from effluent treatment was 64% of total GHG at the conventional piggeries. Nitrous oxide arose from both grain production and manure management, comprising 7-33% of the total emissions. The GHG emissions for the national herd were 3.6 kg CO2-e/kg LW, with the largest determining factor on total emissions being the relative proportion of pigs managed with high or low emission manure management systems. Emissions from LU and dLUC sources ranged from 0.08 to 0.7 kg CO2-e/kg LW for the case study farms, with differences associated with the inclusion rate of imported soybean meal in the ration and feed-conversion ratio. GHG intensity (excluding LU, dLUC) from the national herd was 6.36 ± 1.03 kg CO2-e/kg wholesale pork, with the emission profile dominated by methane from manure management (50%), followed by feed production (27%) and then meat processing (8%). Inclusion of LU and dLUC emissions had a minor effect on the emission profile. Scenarios testing showed that biogas capture from anaerobic digestion with combined heat and power generation resulted in a 31-64% reduction in GHG emissions. Finishing pigs on deep litter as preferred to conventional housing resulted in 38% lower GHG emissions than conventional finishing.
... Emissions were also similar to the supplementary results presented for wool by Wiedemann et al. (2015d) who studied Australian cross-bred sheep systems focussed on lamb production. Wool farms generate both emissions and removals of greenhouse gases, though the latter have not previously been considered in wool LCAs. ...
... Dam densities were within the range reported by Nathan and Lowe (2012) but modelled extractions for livestock drinking water as a proportion of dam volume were much lower in the present study (see Table 2) than the assumptions made by these authors. Supplementary data from Wiedemann et al. (2015d) showed that water use from wool in cross-bred sheep systems focussed on lamb production could be higher (up to 741.4 L/kg greasy wool) where irrigation is used. ...
... management systems used in the SA SPZ, resulting in lower energy demand. Few other studies were found reporting energy demand for wool, though the results presented here were of a similar order to the 13.4 MJ/kg greasy wool for one study in New Zealand (Barber and Pellow, 2006) and tended to be slightly higher than wool from cross-bred sheep systems (Wiedemann et al., 2015d). ...
Australia is the largest supplier of fine apparel wool in the world, produced from diverse sheep production systems. To date, broad scale analyses of the environmental credentials of Australian wool have not used detailed farm-scale data, resulting in a knowledge gap regarding the performance of this product. This study is the first multiple impact life cycle assessment (LCA) investigation of three wool types, produced in three geographically defined regions of Australia: the high rainfall zone located in northern New South Wales (NSW HRZ) producing super-fine Merino wool, the Western Australian wheat-sheep zone (WA WSZ) producing fine Merino wool, and the southern pastoral zone (SA SPZ) of central South Australia, producing medium Merino wool. Inventory data were collected from both case study farms and regional datasets. Life cycle inventory and impact assessment methods were applied to determine resource use (energy and water use, and land occupation) and GHG emissions, including emissions and removal associated with land use (LU) and direct land use change (dLUC). Land occupation was divided into use of arable and non-arable land resources. A comparison of biophysical allocation and system expansion methods for handling co-production of greasy wool and live weight (for meat) was included.
... These studies predominantly focussed on one or two impacts only. Recent farm gate studies of beef (Wiedemann et al., 2015c) and lamb (Wiedemann et al., 2015d) cover larger regions representative of Australia's export markets through to the farm gate, and were the basis for this expanded supply chain analysis. The present study aimed to determine major environmental impacts and resource use from the production, processing and transport of Australian beef and lamb to the USA by extending two existing farm-gate LCA studies by the same authors, which used large, integrated datasets based on case study farms and regional survey datasets. ...
... The ABARES dataset covered 345 beef producers and 203 specialist lamb producers annually for the five year period of 2006e2010 (ABARES, 2013a, b). Case study farm data were sourced from other publications (Wiedemann et al., 2015c(Wiedemann et al., , 2015d. Feedlot inventory data were from a survey of the Australian feedlot industry (Davis et al., 2010a, b). ...
... Lamb exports were modelled with equal proportions of lamb from SA, VIC and NSW. Herd and flock modelling methods are explained in detail in other publications (Wiedemann et al., 2015c(Wiedemann et al., , 2015d and key herd and flock parameters are provided in Table 1. The herd and flock model also predicted livestock GHG emissions using methods from the Australian NGGI (DCCEE, 2012a) or global inventory methods (Dong et al., 2006) as applied in other publications (Wiedemann et al., 2015c(Wiedemann et al., , 2015d. ...
Australia is one of the two largest exporting nations for beef and lamb in the world and the USA is a major export market for both products. To inform the Australian red meat industry regarding the environmental performance of exported food products, this study conducted the first multi-impact analysis of Australian red meat export supply chains including all stages through to warehousing in the USA. A large, integrated dataset based on case study farms and regional survey was used to model beef and lamb from major representative production regions in eastern Australia. Per kilogram of retail-ready red meat, fresh water consumption ranged from 441.7 to 597.6 L across the production systems, stress-weighted water use from 108.5 to 169.4 L H2O-e, fossil energy from 28.1 to 46.6 MJ, crop land occupation from 2.5 to 29.9 m2 and human edible protein conversion efficiency ranged from 7.9 to 0.3, with major differences observed between grass finished and grain finished production. GHG emissions excluding land use and direct land use change ranged from 16.1 to 27.2 kg CO2-e per kilogram, and removals and emissions from land use and direct land use change ranged from −2.4 to 8.7 kg CO2-e per kilogram of retail retail ready meat.
... Thus, life cycle analysis of factors influencing changes Dry matter intake (kg/day) Methane production (g/day) in GHG emissions intensity of Australian beef production between 1981 and 2010 showed that higher weaning rates, faster growth rates, heavier carcass weights and lower mortality rates all decreased emissions intensity, as well as increasing production efficiency (Wiedemann et al. 2015). Similarly, it was shown that factors increasing the efficiency of production of export lamb also reduce GHG emissions intensity (Wiedemann et al. 2016). A counter argument is that increased productive efficiency may lead an individual enterprise or industry sector to increase herd or flock size and thereby increase total emissions regardless of improvements in emissions intensity. ...
... The fact that almost all Australian cattle feed is now produced in dryland systems must contribute to the above estimates of water use being considerably lower than similarly estimated North American values. Other methodological considerations, such as how to account for rainfall usage in non-arable dryland systems, apply to estimates of water usage for beef (Wiedemann et al. 2015) and lamb (Wiedemann et al. 2016) production in Australia. ...
This account of the development and achievements of the animal sciences in Australia is prefaced by a brief history of the livestock industries from 1788 to the present. During the 19th century, progress in industry development was due more to the experience and ingenuity of producers than to the application of scientific principles; the end of the century also saw the establishment of departments of agriculture and agricultural colleges in all Australian colonies (later states). Between the two world wars, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research was established, including well supported Divisions of Animal Nutrition and Animal Health, and there was significant growth in research and extension capability in the state departments. However, the research capacity of the recently established university Faculties of Agriculture and Veterinary Science was limited by lack of funding and opportunity to offer postgraduate research training. The three decades after 1945 were marked by strong political support for agricultural research, development and extension, visionary scientific leadership, and major growth in research institutions and achievements, partly driven by increased university funding and enrolment of postgraduate students. State-supported extension services for livestock producers peaked during the 1970s. The final decades of the 20th century featured uncertain commodity markets and changing public attitudes to livestock production. There were also important Federal Government initiatives to stabilise industry and government funding of agricultural research, development and extension via the Research and Development Corporations, and to promote efficient use of these resources through creation of the Cooperative Research Centres program. These initiatives led to some outstanding research outcomes for most of the livestock sectors, which continued during the early decades of the 21st century, including the advent of genomic selection for genetic improvement of production and health traits, and greatly increased attention to public interest issues, particularly animal welfare and environmental protection. The new century has also seen development and application of the ‘One Health’ concept to protect livestock, humans and the environment from exotic infectious diseases, and an accelerating trend towards privatisation of extension services. Finally, industry challenges and opportunities are briefly discussed, emphasising those amenable to research, development and extension solutions.
... While studies applying LCA to dairy (Thomassen et al. 2009;van der Werf et al. 2009;Flysjö et al. 2011) and beef production (Williams et al. 2006;Lieffering et al. 2010;Peters et al. 2010;Nguyen et al. 2012;Wiedemann et al. 2015b) have been published for several major production regions of the world, there are fewer published LCAs on sheep and most of these have focussed on lamb production. Lamb LCA studies cover production in a range of regions, notably the Mediterranean (Ripoll-Bosch et al. 2013), New Zealand Gac et al. 2012), the UK (Williams et al. 2006;Edwards-Jones et al. 2009) and Australia (Peters et al. 2010;Wiedemann et al. 2015c). Only three published studies have specifically investigated the LCA of wool, with two examining meat and wool production from single-case study farms in Australia (Eady et al. 2012;Brock et al. 2013) and the most recent studying four case studies across three countries (Wiedemann et al. 2015a). ...
... Protein mass allocation is superior to simple mass allocation as it relates directly to the digestible protein leaving the stomach in individual animals, which is the major biophysical driver of wool and LW growth (Cronje 2012). Sensitivity analysis using system expansion was recommended by Wiedemann et al. (2015c) to investigate the implications of a change in production, the implications of choosing alternative products or systems, and to evaluate system change strategies, in which case consequential modelling is appropriate. To avoid risks of burden shifting when economic allocation methods are applied, Wiedemann et al. (2015a) suggested that emissions intensity (EI) results should be presented for both wool and meat. ...
Abstract
Purpose Australia is the largest supplier of high quality wool in the world. The environmental burden of sheep production must be shared between wool and meat. We examine different methods to handle these co-products and focus on proportional protein content as a basis for allocation, that is, protein mass allocation (PMA). This is the first comprehensive investigation applying PMA for calculating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for Australian sheep production, evaluating the variation in PMA across a large number of farms and locations over 20 years.
Materials and methods Inventory data for two superfine wool Merino farms were obtained from farmer records, interviews and site visits in Study 1. Livestock GHG emissions were modelled using Australian National GHG Inventory methods. A comparison was made of mass, protein mass and economic allocation and system expansion methods for handling co-production of wool and sheep meat. In Study 2 typical crossbred ewe, Merino ewe and Merino wether flocks in each of 28 locations in 8 climate zones were modelled using the GrassGro/GRAZPLAN simulation model and historical climatic data to examine the variation in PMA values for different enterprise types.
Results and discussion Different methods for handling co-products in Study 1 changed allocated GHG emissions more than four-fold, highlighting the sensitivity to method choice. In Study 2, enterprise, climate zone and year and their interactions had significant effects on PMA between wool and liveweight (LW) sold. The wool PMA (wool protein as proportion of total protein sold) least squares means (LSM) were: 0.61 ± 0.003 for wethers, 0.43 ± 0.003 for Merino ewes and 0.27 ± 0.003 for Crossbred ewe enterprises. The wool PMA LSM for the main effect of Köppen climate zone varied from 0.39 to 0.46. Two zones (no dry season/warm summer and distinctively dry and hot) had significantly lower wool PMA LSM, of 0.39 and 0.41 respectively, than the four other climate zones.
Conclusions Effects of superfine wool production on GHG emissions differed between regions in response to differences in climate and productivity. Regarding methods for handling co-production, system expansion showed the greatest contrast between the two studied flocks and highlighted the importance of meat from wool production systems. However, we also propose PMA as a simple, easily applied allocation approach for use when attributional life cycle assessment (LCA) is undertaken.
... Due to methodological differences in the impact methods and functional units chosen, no conclusions can be drawn from the identified studies. Wiedemann et al. (2015b) and Wiedemann et al. (2016) report highest water use in sheep production to be associated with losses from farm water supply systems with up to 85% of overall water use, while livestock drinking water having minor contributions. ...
This report is written within the Swedish Wool Initiative project, funded by
Vinnova. The project aims at increasing the competitiveness for Swedish wool and
contributing to a more sustainable and circular textile industry through
developing circular products based on discarded Swedish wool. Apart from
project leader Axfoundation, project partners include actors from the textile
industry, supply chain as well as from research and innovation. The report
describes the results of a working package focusing on the sustainability of
Swedish wool.
The study aimed at looking into methodological choices applied in sustainability
assessments of sheep and wool production, as well as to investigate results of
sustainability impact assessments of the production. Based on this, the study
aimed to highlight potentially missing aspects in previous assessments as well as
to compare the impacts of Swedish production in relation to production in other
countries.
... Similarly, fossil energy was lower than the reported footprints for boneless beef, lamb and pork, but higher than shell-and protein-corrected eggs (Wiedemann 2018). Although arable-land occupation for boneless chicken meat was substantially higher than that for boneless beef and lamb (Wiedemann et al. 2015a(Wiedemann et al. , 2016bWiedemann 2018), total land occupation for boneless chicken meat production was far lower, consistent with the trend (although still higher than) identified for shell-and protein-corrected Australian eggs (M. A. Copley and S. G. Wiedemann, unpubl. data). ...
Context Steadily increasing consumption of chicken meat (Australia’s most consumed meat protein) has resulted in expanded production. With societal expectations that industries improve sustainability, understanding baseline impacts is vital. Aims This study determined carbon footprint (kg CO2-e), fossil energy (MJ), fresh water consumption (L), stress (L H2O-e) and scarcity (m3), and land-occupation (m2) impacts for conventional (C) and free-range (FR) production systems, identified hotspots and the implications of changes in production over the past decade, to establish targets for future improvement. Methods In the largest study of its kind, attributional life-cycle assessment with data collected for ~50% of birds processed was used, reporting impacts per kilogram of the typical market mix of chicken products, and boneless chicken. Uncertainty was assessed through Monte Carlo analysis, and results are presented as the means and standard deviation. Key results Slightly lower impacts per kilogram of chicken meat product were observed for C production (2.1 ± 0.03 kg CO2-e, 18.0 ± 0.3 MJ, 178.6 ± 22.4 L, and 10.2 ± 0.1 m2) than for FR (2.2 ± 0.03 kg CO2-e, 18.5 ± 0.3 MJ, 189.6 ± 24.6 L, and 10.6 ± 0.1 m2). Feed production was the major hotspot, followed by grow-out and meat processing. Land use (LU) and direct land use-change (dLUC) impacts associated with imported soymeal added 1.7 ± 0.3 and 1.8 ± 0.3 kg CO2-e to C and FR respectively. FR carbon footprint and land occupation were significantly (P < 0.05) higher. Since 2010, fossil energy, arable land, and greenhouse-gas emissions have declined. One countertrend was LU and dLUC emissions, which increased due to changed soy imports, resulting in a slightly higher C carbon footprint. Conclusions Multi-indicator analysis is fundamental to understanding, communicating, and improving performance, and distinguishing between short-term fluctuations and long-term trends. Since 2010, feed-production impacts have increased (due to imported soymeal in poultry diets), indicating that alternative feed protein sources are a priority. Efficiency improvements reduced per-kilogram impacts across other indicators, demonstrating a positive trend in producing more food from fewer inputs. Implications Australian chicken meat is a low-impact animal protein. Future improvements require alternative feed proteins, technology adoption and practice change to maintain or reduce impacts as production expands alongside consumer demand.
... Numerous examples of industrial symbiosis and eco-management exist around the world, depending on location, type of activity and awareness of occupants of such zones. UNEP already published guidelines on this subject in 1997 [80], numerous further examples and case studies have been published, see for example [81,82]. Such examples depend critically on understanding the underlying material flows, the life cycle impacts of industrial collaboration, and application of supply-chain management procedures. ...
This review examines how life cycle methodologies are presently used by regional authorities in their sustainable development programmes. The review incorporates formal methods of life cycle assessment (LCA) as well as non-standardised approaches like life cycle management (LCM). The review describes the sustainability agenda facing regions, and a ‘life cycle toolbox’ that can be used at territorial level. Several parallel literature research methods were used to collect representative examples from around the world of regional life cycle approaches, identifying a variety of common and still-evolving methodologies used to address sustainability issues and applications. Results show that regional use of various life cycle methodologies from the toolbox is growing although scope is often constrained to short life chains, and with limited consideration of secondary (“spillover”) impacts. The conclusions confirm earlier findings that current life cycle tools are not always ideally structured for public sector organisations, with some not yet mature for addressing regional sustainability issues, such as biodiversity, land use and social impacts. Regional data aggregation is currently insufficient for certain methods. Further research is needed to adapt certain life cycle methodologies for regional application, but many available tools could already be further applied than is currently the case.
... Compressed biomethane could then be used within the livestock industries as an alternative vehicle and machinery fuel (O'Hara et al. 2016). This can lower the fossil energy footprint of livestock industries significantly, since on-farm fuel use for vehicles and machinery make up a large part of fossil energy use for both lamb and grass-finished beef production (Wiedemann et al. 2016a(Wiedemann et al. , 2016b. Aside from fossil fuel reductions, the 'behindthe-meter' use of energy produced onsite also enables production to be less sensitive to fuel and electricity supply and price changes. ...
The livestock sector is a fundamental part of the modern global economy and provides food, clothing, furnishings, and various other products. So as to ensure its resilience to changes in consumer expectations, cost of production, and environmental sustainability, the sector must shift to a circular economy model. Current strategies to recover value from wastes and low-value co-products from livestock industries yield limited value; hence, new technologies are required to upgrade wastes and co-products, and generate high-value products that can feed into the livestock value chain. Anaerobic digestion can convert high organic-content waste to biogas for energy and a stable nutrient-rich digestate that can be used as fertiliser. Microbial technologies can transform wastes to produce nutritionally advanced feeds. New materials from waste can also be produced for livestock industry-specific applications. While aiming to add commercial value, the successful implementation of these technologies will also address the environmental and productivity issues that are increasingly valued by producers and consumers.
... In order to compare GHGE across species, the work of one author has been selected to ensure a consistency of assumptions and methods. The GHGEs per kilogram LW (kg CO 2 -e/kg LW, excluding land use and direct land use change emissions) from meat production systems in Australia vary from the lowest for pork (2.1 to 4.5) (Wiedemann et al., 2018), grass-finished lamb is intermediate (6.1 to 7.3) (Wiedemann et al., 2016b) and grass finished beef is the highest (10.6 to 12.4) (Wiedemann et al., 2016a). The calculation for grass-fed beef and lamb does not take into account carbon sequestration and storage by permanent pastures, and if this is included, the carbon impact will reduce by 30% to 50% (Soussana et al., 2010). ...
Cell-based meat, also called 'clean', lab, synthetic or in vitro meat, has attracted much media interest recently. Consumer demand for cellular meat production derives principally from concerns over environment and animal welfare, while secondary considerations include consumer and public health aspects of animal production, and food security. The present limitations to cellular meat production include the identification of immortal cell lines, availability of cost-effective, bovine-serum-free growth medium for cell proliferation and maturation, scaffold materials for cell growth, scaling up to an industrial level, regulatory and labelling issues and at what stage mixing of myo-, adipo-and even fibrocytes can potentially occur. Consumer perceptions that cell-based meat production will result in improvements to animal welfare and the environment have been challenged, with the outcome needing to wait until the processes used in cell-based meat are close to a commercial reality. Challenges for cell-based meat products include the simulation of nutritional attributes, texture, flavour and mouthfeel of animal-derived meat products. There is some question over whether consumers will accept the technology, but likely there will be acceptance of cell-based meat products, in particular market segments. Currently, the cost of growth media, industry scale-up of specific components of the cell culture process, intellectual property sharing issues and regulatory hurdles mean that it will likely require an extended period for cellular meat to be consistently available in high-end restaurants and even longer to be available for the mass market. The progress in plant-based meat analogues is already well achieved, with products such as the Impossible TM Burger and other products already available. These developments may make the development of cellular meat products obsolete. But the challenges remain of mimicking not only the nutritional attributes, flavour, shape and structure of real meat, but also the changes in regulation and labelling.
... System expansion was implemented for cLCI and assumed that additional fine wool Merino sheep production avoided either cross-bred meat sheep and coarse wool production or beef production, as discussed above. Data used for avoided production of cross-bred sheep meat production were taken from Wiedemann et al. (2016b), while beef production inventory data (cLCI-BM) were taken from Wiedemann et al. (2016a), with some modification of land and water supply processes to account for the likely expansion of lamb production on farms previously used for wool. In both instances, the most affected suppliers that were increasing either sheep meat or beef were expected to have performance levels similar to the regional average. ...
Purpose
One aim of LCA-based rating tools developed by the apparel industry is to promote a change in demand for textiles by influencing consumer preferences based on the environmental footprint of textiles. Despite a growing consensus that footprints developed using attributional LCA (aLCA) are not suitable to inform decisions that will impact supply and demand, these tools continue to use aLCA. This paper analyses the application of the LCA methods to wool production, specifically the application of aLCA methods that provide a retrospective assessment of impacts and consequential (cLCA) methods that estimate the impacts of a change.
Methods
Attributional and consequential life cycle inventories (LCIs) were developed and analysed to examine how the different methodological approaches affect the estimated environmental impacts of wool.
Results and discussion
Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) of aLCI and cLCI for wool indicates that estimated global warming and water stress impacts may be considerably lower for additional production of wool, as estimated by cLCIA, than for current production as estimated by aLCIA. However, fossil resource impacts for additional production may be greater than for current production when increased wool production was assumed to displace dedicated sheep meat production.
Conclusions
This work supports the notion that the use of a retrospective assessment method (i.e. aLCA) to produce information that will guide consumer preferences may not adequately represent the impacts of a consumer’s choice because the difference between aLCIA and cLCIA results may be relatively large. As such, rating tools based on attributional LCA are unlikely to be an adequate indicator of the sustainability of textiles used in the apparel industry.
... Additionally, while research on the use of LCA for dairy (Flysjö et al. 2011;Thomassen et al. 2009;van der Werf et al. 2009) and beef production (Lieffering et al. 2010;Nguyen et al. 2012;Peters et al. 2010;Wiedemann et al. 2015a;Williams et al. 2006) has been reported for several major production regions of the world, there are fewer published LCAs on sheep and most of these have focussed on lamb production. Lamb LCA studies cover production in a range of regions, notably the Mediterranean (Ripoll-Bosch et al. 2013), New Zealand (NZ) (Gac et al. 2012;Ledgard et al. 2011), the United Kingdom (UK) (Edwards-Jones et al. 2009;Williams et al. 2006) and Australia (Peters et al. 2010;Wiedemann et al. 2015b). Only two published studies have specifically investigated the LCA of wool, with both examining meat and wool production from single-casestudy farms in Australia (Brock et al. 2013;Eady et al. 2012). ...
Purpose Methodology of co-product handling is a critical determinant of calculated resource use and environmental emissions per kilogram (kg) product but has not been examined in detail for different sheep production systems. This paper investigates alternative approaches for handling co-production of wool and live weight (LW, for meat) from dual purpose sheep systems to the farm-gate. Methods Seven methods were applied; three biophysical allocation (BA) methods based on protein requirements and partitioning of digested protein, protein mass allocation (PMA), economic allocation (EA) and two system expansion (SE) methods. Effects on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, fossil energy demand and land occupation (classified according to suitability for arable use) were assessed using four contrasting case study (CS) farm systems. A UK upland farm (CS 1) and a New Zealand hill farm (CS 2) were selected to represent systems focused on lamb and coarse-textured wool for interior textiles. Two Australian Merino sheep farms (CS 3, CS 4) were selected to represent systems focused on medium to superfine garment wool, and lamb. Results and discussion Total GHG emissions per kilogram total products (i.e. wool + LW) were similar across CS farms. However, results were highly sensitive to the method of co-product handling. GHG emissions based on BA of wool protein to wool resulted in 10-12 kg CO2-e/kg wool (across all CS farms), whereas it increased to 24-38 kg CO2-e/kg wool when BA included a proportion of sheep maintenance requirements. Results for allocation% generated using EA varied widely from 4 % (CS 1) to 52 % (CS 4). SE using beef as a substitution for sheep meat gave the lowest, and often negative, GHG emissions from wool production. Different methods were found to re-order the impacts across the four case studies in some instances. A similar overall pattern was observed for the effects of co-product handling method on other impact categories for three of the four farms. Conclusions BA based on protein partitioning between sheep wool and LW is recommended for attributional studies with the PMA method being an easily applied proxy for the more detailed BA methods. Sensitivity analysis using SE is recommended to understand the implications of system change. Sensitivity analysis using SE is recommended to investigate implications of choosing alternative products or systems, and to evaluate system change strategies in which case consequential modelling is appropriate. To avoid risks of burden shifting when allocation methods are applied, results should be presented for both wool and LW.
Purpose
This paper aims to demonstrate methods that sustainability-conscious brands can use to include their primary producers in the measurement and reporting of the environment and sustainability performance of their supply chains. It explores three questions: How can farm businesses provide information required in sustainability reporting? What are the challenges and opportunities experienced in preparing and presenting the information? What future research and policy instruments might be needed to resolve these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This study identifies and describes methods to provide the farm-level information needed for environmental performance and sustainability reporting frameworks. It demonstrates them by compiling natural capital accounts and environmental performance information for two wool producers in the grassy woodland biome of Eastern Australia; the contrasting history and management of these producers would be expected to result in different environmental performances.
Findings
The authors demonstrated an approach to NC accounting that is suitable for including primary producers in environmental performance reporting of supply chains and that can communicate whether individual producers are sustaining, improving or degrading their NC. Measurements suitable for informing farm management and for the estimation of supply chain performance can simultaneously produce information useful for aggregation to regional and national assessments.
Practical implications
The methods used should assist sustainability-conscious supply chains to more accurately assess the environmental performance of their primary producers and to use these assessments in selective sourcing strategies to improve supply chain performance. Empirical measures of environmental performance and natural capital have the potential to enable evaluation of the effectiveness of sustainability accounting frameworks in inducing businesses to reduce their environmental impacts and improve the condition of the natural capital they depend on.
Social implications
Two significant social implications exist for the inclusion of primary producers in the sustainability and environmental performance reporting of supply chains. Firstly, it presently takes considerable time and expense for producers to prepare this information. Governments and members of the supply chain should acknowledge the value of this information to their organisations and consider sharing some of the cost of its preparation with primary producers. Secondly, the “additionality” requirement commonly present in existing frameworks may perversely exclude already high-performing producers from being recognised. The methods proposed in this paper provide a way to resolve this.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to describe detailed methods of collecting data for natural capital accounting and environmental performance reporting for individual farms and the first to compile the information and present it in a manner coherent with the Kering EP&L and the UN SEEA EA. The authors believe that this will make a significant contribution to the development of fair and standardised ways of measuring individual farm performance and the performance of food, beverage and apparel supply chains.
Financial institutions are indirectly exposed to risks associated with the impacts and dependencies on natural capital and ecosystem services of the companies that they invest in, lend to, and insure. This is particularly true for banks lending to agriculture: a sector with both significant impacts and critical dependencies on natural capital. Bank lending is a vital source of new finance for the sector, which is essential to achieve sustainable intensification targets. Yet current credit decision-making practice is still based on conventional financial and management indicators, lacking any systematic assessment of natural capital risks, especially those associated with dependencies. Operationalising natural capital risk assessment requires practicable indicators and data to evaluate the most material natural capital risks for a given sub-sector and geography, but it is unclear to what extent these are available. We assess the practicability of natural capital dependency risk indicators and data sources for a critical case study of Australian sheep production. We find that at least moderately practicable indicators and data sources are available to assess the 11 major dependency risks that are material for this industry. Challenges remain in determining risk thresholds for most indicators, and quantifying risk impacts on profitability.
Purpose
Garment production and use generate substantial environmental impacts, and the care and use are key determinants of cradle-to-grave impacts. The present study investigated the potential to reduce environmental impacts by applying best practices for garment care combined with increased garment use. A wool sweater is used as an example because wool garments have particular attributes that favour reduced environmental impacts in the use phase.
Methods
A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to compare six plausible best and worst-case practice scenarios for use and care of a wool sweater, relative to current practices. These focussed on options available to consumers to reduce impacts, including reduced washing frequency, use of more efficient washing machines, reduced use of machine clothing dryers, garment reuse by multiple users, and increasing number of garment wears before disposal. A sixth scenario combined all options. Worst practices took the worst plausible alternative for each option investigated. Impacts were reported per wear in Western Europe for climate change, fossil energy demand, water stress and freshwater consumption.
Results and discussion
Washing less frequently reduced impacts by between 4 and 20%, while using more efficient washing machines at capacity reduced impacts by 1 to 6%, depending on the impact category. Reduced use of machine dryer reduced impacts by < 5% across all indicators. Reusing garments by multiple users increased life span and reduced impacts by 25–28% across all indicators. Increasing wears from 109 to 400 per garment lifespan had the largest effect, decreasing impacts by 60% to 68% depending on the impact category. Best practice care, where garment use was maximised and care practices focussed on the minimum practical requirements, resulted in a ~ 75% reduction in impacts across all indicators. Unsurprisingly, worst-case scenarios increased impacts dramatically: using the garment once before disposal increased GHG impacts over 100 times.
Conclusions
Wool sweaters have potential for long life and low environmental impact in use, but there are substantial differences between the best, current and worst-case scenarios. Detailed information about garment care and lifespans is needed to understand and reduce environmental impacts. Opportunities exist for consumers to rapidly and dramatically reduce these impacts. The fashion industry can facilitate this through garment design and marketing that promotes and enables long wear life and minimal care.
This report reviews 50 studies analyzing livestock water productivity carried out in various regions of the world from 1993 to 2018.
This report includes a review of Australian agricultural emissions, nationally and by sector. It includes estimates of emissions intensity of various products. It then reviews the mitigation options. Lastly it includes some basic emissions scenarios and describes the level of action need for the land sectors (agriculture and LULUCF) to reach net-zero by 2030.
The world population has increased to almost 8,000 million people, which suggests increases in the demand and consumption of products of animal origin, causing greater pressure on the use of water resources and increases in the emission of greenhouse gases (EGHG). The objective of this research was to quantify the environmental impact (EI) and economic impact (EcI) of the carbon footprint (CP) and water footprint (WP) as indicators of sustainability of ruminant production systems (RPS) during the period 1994-2018. The investigation was carried out in northern Mexico, in the Comarca Lagunera (CL, 102º 22 '& 104º 47' W, 24º 22 '& 26º 23' N), an arid region with annual averages of rainfall less than 240 mm, although it is very important in livestock production in the country. The quantification of the EI in WP only considered the calculation of the use of blue water (BWF). The CP considered the IPCC methodology for the livestock and agriculture subcategories. The calculation of the economic value (EV) of BWF considered the average international water price, while the CP considered an international average price of the carbon credits. The economic value of RPS (Dairy cattle, Beef cattle and Goats) was determined based on its gross production value (GPV). In 2018, the CL recorded a ruminant inventory of 1,163,046 heads, with 350,280 heads in production, generating 2,503.50 million liters of milk with a total of 676,769 slaughtered heads, and a yield of 83,716 tons of meat. This production of milk and meat represented 99,538 tons of protein. When comparing the annual average of the GPV-RPS of 651.41 M€ (11,754.89 MMXP) regarding the EV-BWF of 11,602.82 M€ (209,377.59 MMXP) added to the EV-CF of 330.71 M€(5,967.79 MMXP) a significant EI and EcI is observed from RPS, especially those generated by the dairy and beef cattle systems, with a negligible impact of the goat system. The GPV-RPS represented 5.46% of the EV of the WF plus the CF [11,933.53 M€ (215.345.38 MMXP)]. Therefore, it is fundamental to delineate and adopt mitigation strategies in the management of RPS with respect to water use and EGHG. These strategies must considerer the characteristics of each species of ruminant and they will be essential to achieve the sustainability not only of the RPS, but also the ecological, economic and social viability of the CL itself.
The depletion of water resources, in terms of both quantity and quality, has become a major concern both locally and globally. Ruminants, in particular, are under increased public scrutiny due to their relatively high water use per unit of meat or milk produced. Estimating the water footprint of livestock production is a relatively new field of research for which methods are still evolving. This review describes the approaches used to quantify water use in ruminant production systems as well as the methodological and conceptual issues associated with each approach. Water use estimates for the main products from ruminant production systems are also presented, along with possible management strategies to reduce water use. In the past, quantifying water withdrawal in ruminant production focused on the water demand for drinking or operational purposes. Recently, the recognition of water as a scarce resource has led to the development of several methodologies including water footprint assessment, life cycle assessment, and livestock water productivity to assess water use and its environmental impacts. These methods differ with respect to their target outcome (efficiency or environmental impacts), geographic focus (local or global), description of water sources (green, blue, and gray), handling of water quality concerns, the interpretation of environmental impacts, and the metric by which results are communicated (volumetric units or impact equivalents). Ruminant production is a complex activity where animals are often reared at different sites using a range of resources over their lifetime. Additional water use occurs during slaughter, product processing, and packaging. Estimating water use at the various stages of meat and milk production and communicating those estimates will help producers and other stakeholders identify hotspots and implement strategies to improve water use efficiency. Improvements in ruminant productivity (i.e., BW and milk production) and reproductive efficiency can also reduce the water footprint per unit product. However, given that feed production makes up the majority of water use by ruminants, research and development efforts should focus on this area. More research and clarity are needed to examine the validity of assumptions and possible trade-offs between ruminants' water use and other sustainability indicators.
Utilisation of water, energy and land resources is under pressure globally because of increased demand for food, fibre and fuel production. Australian pork production utilises these resources both directly to grow and process pigs, and indirectly via the consumption of feed and other inputs. With increasing demand and higher costs associated with these resources, supply chain efficiency is a growing priority for the industry. This study aimed to quantify fresh water consumption, stress-weighted water use, fossil fuel energy use and land occupation from six case study supply chains and the national herd using a life cycle assessment approach. Two functional units were used: 1 kg of pork liveweight (LW) at the farm-gate, and 1 kg of wholesale pork (chilled, bone-in). At the farm-gate, fresh water consumption from the case study supply chains ranged from²2.2 to 156.7 L/kg LW, with a national average value of 107.5 L/kg LW. Stress-weighted water use ranged from 6.6 to 167.5 L H2 O-e /kg LW, with a national average value of 103.2 L H2 O-e /kg LW. Fossil fuel energy demand ranged from 12.9 to 17.4 MJ/kg LW, with a national average value of 14.5 MJ/kg LW, and land occupation ranged from 10.9 to 16.1 m² /kg LW, with a national average value of 16.1 m² /kg LW and with arable land representing 97% to 99% of total land occupation. National average impacts associated with production of wholesale pork, including impacts from meat processing, were 184 ± 43 L fresh water consumption, 172 ± 53 L H2 O-e stress-weighted water, 27 ± 2.6 MJ fossil fuel energy demand and 25.9 ± 5.5 m² land/kg wholesale pork. Across all categories through to the wholesale product, resource use was highest from the production of feed inputs, indicating that improving feed conversion ratio is the most important production metric for reducing the resource use. Housing type and energy generation from manure management also influence resource use requirements and may offer improvement opportunities.
The depletion of water resources, in terms of both quantity and quality, has become a major concern both locally and globally. Ruminants, in particular, are under increased public scrutiny due to their relatively high water use per unit of meat or milk produced. Estimating the water footprint of livestock production is a relatively new field of research for which methods are still evolving. This review describes the approaches used to quantify water use in ruminant production systems as well as the methodological and conceptual issues associated with each approach. Water use estimates for the main products from ruminant production systems are also presented, along with possible management strategies to reduce water use. In the past, quantifying water withdrawal in ruminant production focused on the water demand for drinking or operational purposes. Recently, the recognition of water as a scarce resource has led to the development of several methodologies including water footprint assessment, life cycle assessment, and livestock water productivity to assess water use and its environmental impacts. These methods differ with respect to their target outcome (efficiency or environmental impacts), geographic focus (local or global), description of water sources (green, blue, and gray), handling of water quality concerns, the interpretation of environmental impacts, and the metric by which results are communicated (volumetric units or impact equivalents). Ruminant production is a complex activity where animals are often reared at different sites using a range of resources over their lifetime. Additional water use occurs during slaughter, product processing, and packaging. Estimating water use at the various stages of meat and milk production and communicating those estimates will help producers and other stakeholders identify hotspots and implement strategies to improve water use efficiency. Improvements in ruminant productivity (i.e., BW and milk production) and reproductive efficiency can also reduce the water footprint per unit product. However, given that feed production makes up the majority of water use by ruminants, research and development efforts should focus on this area. More research and clarity are needed to examine the validity of assumptions and possible trade-offs between ruminants’ water use and other sustainability indicators. © 2017 American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved.
Grain finishing of cattle has become increasingly common in Australia over the past 30 years. However, interest in the associated environmental impacts and resource use is increasing and requires detailed analysis. In this study we conducted a life cycle assessment (LCA) to investigate impacts of the grain-finishing stage for cattle in seven feedlots in eastern Australia, with a particular focus on the feedlot stage, including the impacts from producing the ration, feedlot operations, transport, and livestock emissions while cattle are in the feedlot (gate-to-gate). The functional unit was 1 kg of liveweight gain (LWG) for the feedlot stage and results are included for the full supply chain (cradle-to-gate), reported per kilogram of liveweight (LW) at the point of slaughter. Three classes of cattle produced for different markets were studied: short-fed domestic market (55-80 days on feed), mid-fed export (108-164 days on feed) and long-fed export (>300 days on feed). In the feedlot stage, mean fresh water consumption was found to vary from 171.9 to 672.6 L/kg LWG and mean stress-weighted water use ranged from 100.9 to 193.2 water stress index eq. L/kg LWG. Irrigation contributed 57-91% of total fresh water consumption with differences mainly related to the availability of irrigation water near the feedlot and the use of irrigated feed inputs in rations. Mean fossil energy demand ranged from 16.5 to 34.2 MJ lower heating values/kg LWG and arable land occupation from 18.7 to 40.5 m2/kg LWG in the feedlot stage. Mean greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the feedlot stage ranged from 4.6 to 9.5 kg CO2-e/kg LWG (excluding land use and direct land-use change emissions). Emissions were dominated by enteric methane and contributions from the production, transport and milling of feed inputs. Linear regression analysis showed that the feed conversion ratio was able to explain >86% of the variation in GHG intensity and energy demand. The feedlot stage contributed between 26% and 44% of total slaughter weight for the classes of cattle fed, whereas the contribution of this phase to resource use varied from 4% to 96% showing impacts from the finishing phase varied considerably, compared with the breeding and backgrounding. GHG emissions and total land occupation per kilogram of LWG during the grain finishing phase were lower than emissions from breeding and backgrounding, resulting in lower life-time emissions for grain-finished cattle compared with grass finishing.
Resource use and environmental impacts are important factors relating to the sustainability of beef production in Australia. This study used life cycle assessment to investigate impacts from grass-finished beef production in eastern Australia to the farm gate, reporting impacts per kilogram of liveweight (LW) produced. Mean fossil fuel energy demand was found to vary from 5.6 to 8.4 MJ/kg LW, mean estimated fresh water consumption from 117.9 to 332.4 L/kg LW and crop land occupation from 0.3 to 6.4 m2/kg LW. Mean greenhouse gas emissions ranged from 10.6 to 12.4 kg CO2-e/kg LW (excluding land use and direct land-use change emissions) and were not significantly different (P > 0.05) for export or domestic market classes. Enteric methane was the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, and multiple linear regression analysis revealed that weaning rate and average daily gain explained 80% of the variability in supply chain greenhouse gas emissions. Fresh water consumption was found to vary significantly among individual farms depending on climate, farm water supply efficiency and the use of irrigation. The impact of water use was measured using the stress-weighted water use indicator, and ranged from 8.4 to 104.2 L H2O-e/kg LW. The stress-weighted water use was influenced more by regional water stress than the volume of fresh water consumption. Land occupation was assessed with disaggregation of crop land, arable pasture land and non-arable land, which revealed that the majority of beef production utilised non-arable land that is unsuitable for most alternative food production systems.
Purpose Methodology of co-product handling is a critical determinant of calculated resource use and environmental emissions per kilogram (kg) product but has not been examined in detail for different sheep production systems. This paper investigates alternative approaches for handling co-production of wool and live weight (LW, for meat) from dual purpose sheep systems to the farm-gate. Methods Seven methods were applied; three biophysical allocation (BA) methods based on protein requirements and partitioning of digested protein, protein mass allocation (PMA), economic allocation (EA) and two system expansion (SE) methods. Effects on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, fossil energy demand and land occupation (classified according to suitability for arable use) were assessed using four contrasting case study (CS) farm systems. A UK upland farm (CS 1) and a New Zealand hill farm (CS 2) were selected to represent systems focused on lamb and coarse-textured wool for interior textiles. Two Australian Merino sheep farms (CS 3, CS 4) were selected to represent systems focused on medium to superfine garment wool, and lamb. Results and discussion Total GHG emissions per kilogram total products (i.e. wool + LW) were similar across CS farms. However, results were highly sensitive to the method of co-product handling. GHG emissions based on BA of wool protein to wool resulted in 10-12 kg CO2-e/kg wool (across all CS farms), whereas it increased to 24-38 kg CO2-e/kg wool when BA included a proportion of sheep maintenance requirements. Results for allocation% generated using EA varied widely from 4 % (CS 1) to 52 % (CS 4). SE using beef as a substitution for sheep meat gave the lowest, and often negative, GHG emissions from wool production. Different methods were found to re-order the impacts across the four case studies in some instances. A similar overall pattern was observed for the effects of co-product handling method on other impact categories for three of the four farms. Conclusions BA based on protein partitioning between sheep wool and LW is recommended for attributional studies with the PMA method being an easily applied proxy for the more detailed BA methods. Sensitivity analysis using SE is recommended to understand the implications of system change. Sensitivity analysis using SE is recommended to investigate implications of choosing alternative products or systems, and to evaluate system change strategies in which case consequential modelling is appropriate. To avoid risks of burden shifting when allocation methods are applied, results should be presented for both wool and LW.
Australia is one of the two largest exporting nations for beef and lamb in the world and the USA is a major export market for both products. To inform the Australian red meat industry regarding the environmental performance of exported food products, this study conducted the first multi-impact analysis of Australian red meat export supply chains including all stages through to warehousing in the USA. A large, integrated dataset based on case study farms and regional survey was used to model beef and lamb from major representative production regions in eastern Australia. Per kilogram of retail-ready red meat, fresh water consumption ranged from 441.7 to 597.6 L across the production systems, stress-weighted water use from 108.5 to 169.4 L H2O-e, fossil energy from 28.1 to 46.6 MJ, crop land occupation from 2.5 to 29.9 m2 and human edible protein conversion efficiency ranged from 7.9 to 0.3, with major differences observed between grass finished and grain finished production. GHG emissions excluding land use and direct land use change ranged from 16.1 to 27.2 kg CO2-e per kilogram, and removals and emissions from land use and direct land use change ranged from −2.4 to 8.7 kg CO2-e per kilogram of retail retail ready meat.
This paper is one of two background papers prepared as part of a collaborative project between ABARES and the Forestry Economics and Development Research Center (FEDRC) of China’s State Forestry Administration. The other paper is Land use and management: the Australian context (Lesslie & Mewett 2013).
The Sustainable Land and Forest Management Research Agenda project, funded through AusAID’s Australia China Environment Development Partnership (ACEDP) program, is aimed at strengthening technical cooperation in areas of common interest in sustainable forest management and land resources assessment. Through this process, ABARES and FEDRC will identify common areas of interest and potential arrangements for sharing data and skills.
Early drafts of the two background papers were prepared to support deliberations in workshops and discussions held by FEDRC and ABARES (in Beijing in October 2011 and in Canberra in December 2011). The discussions led to agreement on common areas of research interest in sustainable forest management and land resources assessment. Project partners ABARES and FEDRC intend to use the papers as background information to support collaborative engagement, and as reports to the ACEDP managing contractor (GHD Pty Ltd) and AusAID.
The aim of this study was to investigate variations in soil organic carbon (SOC) for two soil types and six common land uses in the New South Wales Murray Catchment and to explore the factors influencing those variations. Samples were collected from 100 sites on duplex soils (Ustalfs) of the Slopes region, and 100 sites on red-brown earths (Xeralfs) of the Plains region. Stocks of SOC (0-30cm) across the study area ranged between 22.3 and 86.0tha(-1), with means (+/- s.e.) of 42.0 +/- 1.3 and 37.9 +/- 0.8tha(-1) for the Slopes and Plains regions, respectively. Higher SOC stocks were present in pasture-dominated land uses compared with mixed cropping in the Slopes region, with particularly high stocks found in pastures at positions on a slope of 7-10%. No significant differences in SOC stocks were identified between land-use groups (pastures or cropping) in the Plains region (< 500-mm rainfall zone). Significant correlations were found between SOC and a range of climatic, topographical, and soil physico-chemical variables at both the catchment and sub-regional scale. Soil physico-chemical and topographical factors play an important role in explaining SOC variation and should be incorporated into models that aim to predict SOC sequestration across agricultural landscapes.
• Contributors to the carbon footprint of New Zealand lamb exported to the United Kingdom across the life cycle were the cradle-to-farm-gate (80%; mainly animal-related emissions), processing (3%), retail/consumption/waste (12%), and shipping (a small component at 5%).
• Sheep farming uses low inputs and all-year grazing of perennial grasslands. Nevertheless, large efficiency gains have occurred with a 22% smaller on-farm carbon footprint compared with 1990 from increased lambing percentage and lamb growth rates.
• In the wider sustainability context of food production, sheep have a low environmental impact and utilize grassland on hills and steepland that have limited other uses.
Over the past three decades major changes have occurred in Australia's beef industry, affecting productivity and potentially the amount of resources used and environmental impacts from production. Using a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach with a ‘cradle-to-farm gate’ boundary the changes in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensity and key resource use efficiency factors (water use, fossil fuel energy demand and land occupation) are reported for the 30 years from 1981 to 2010, for the Australian beef industry. The analysis showed that over the three decades since 1981 there has been a decrease in GHG emission intensity (excluding land use change emissions) of 14% from 15.3 to 13.1 kg CO2-e/kg liveweight (LW). The improvement was largely due to efficiency gains through heavier slaughter weights, increases in growth rates in grass-fed cattle, improved survival rates and greater numbers of cattle being finished on grain. However, the increase in supplement and grain use on farms, and the increase in feedlot finishing, resulted in a twofold increase in fossil fuel energy demand for beef production over the same time. Fresh water consumption for beef production dropped to almost a third from 1465 L/kg LW in 1981 to 515 L/kg LW in 2010. Three contributing factors for this dramatic reduction in water use were: (i)an increase in the competitive demand for irrigation water, resulting in a transfer away from pasture for cattle to higher value industries such as horticulture, (ii) an initiative to cap free flowing artesian bores in the rangelands, and (iii) an overall decline in water available for agriculture compared to industrial and domestic uses. While there was higher uncertainty relating to estimates of land occupation and emissions from land use (LU) and direct land use change (dLUC), an inventory of land occupation indicated a decline in non-arable land occupation of about 19%, but a sevenfold increase in land occupation for feed production, albeit from a low base in 1981. GHG emissions associated with LU and dLUC for grazing were estimated to have declined by around 42% since 1981, due largely to legislated restrictions on broad-scale deforestation which were introduced progressively between 1996 and 2006. This paper discusses the prospects and challenges for further gains in resource use efficiency and reductions in greenhouse gas intensity for Australian beef production.
The use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to determine environmental impacts of agricultural production, as well as production by other industry sectors has increased. LCA provides an internationally accepted method to underpin labelling and marketing of agricultural products, a valuable tool to compare emissions reduction strategies and a means to identify perverse policy outcomes. A single-issue LCA focussing on greenhouse gas emissions was conducted to determine the emissions profile and carbon footprint of 19-micron wool produced in the Yass Region on the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales. Greenhouse gas emissions (in carbon dioxide equivalents; CO 2 -e) from the production of all enterprise inputs and from the production of wool on-farm were included. Total emissions were found to be 24.9 kg CO 2 -e per kg of greasy wool at the farm gate, based on a 4941 breeding ewe enterprise on 1000 ha, with a total greasy wool yield of 65.32 t per annum. The co-products included 174 t sheep meat as liveweight from wethers and cull ewes plus 978 maiden ewes sold off-farm as replacement stock. Total emissions from all products grown on 1000 ha were 2899 t CO 2 -e per annum. The relative contribution of greenhouse gas emissions from different components of the production system was determined. Direct emission of methane on-farm (86% of total) was the dominant emission, followed by nitrous oxide emitted from animal wastes directly (5%) and indirectly (5%), and decomposition of pasture residue (1%). Only 2% of total emissions were embodied in farm inputs, including fertiliser. The emissions profile varied according to calculation method and assumptions. Enteric methane production was calculated using five recognised methods and results were found to vary by 27%. This study also showed that calculated emissions for wool production changed substantially, under an economic allocation method, by changing the enterprise emphasis from wool to meat production (41% decrease) and by changing wool price (29% variability), fibre diameter (23% variability) and fleece weight (11% variability). This paper provides data specific to the Yass Region and addresses broader methodological issues, to ensure that future livestock emissions calculations are robust.
Sown tropical perennial grass pastures may be a means to restore soil organic carbon (C) lost by cropping with conventional tillage to the levels originally present in native grass pastures. To assess this, total organic carbon and related soil properties were measured under sown tropical pastures, conventionally cultivated cropping, and native pastures on 75 Chromosols and 70 Vertosols to 0.3 m depth in the New South Wales North-West Slopes and Plains region of Australia. The impact of several perennial pasture species on soil organic carbon was also assessed in a 6-year-old, sown pasture experiment on a previously cropped Chromosol. Soil cores in 0.1-m segments to 0.3 m were analysed for total organic carbon, total nitrogen (N), pH, and phosphorus (Colwell-P). Mid-infrared scans were used to predict the particulate, humus, and resistant fractions of the total organic carbon. Bulk density was used to calculate stocks of C, N, and C fractions. In Chromosols, total organic carbon in the surface 0–0.1 m was greater under sown tropical pastures (23.1 Mg ha –1) than conventional tillage cropping (17.7 Mg ha –1), but still less than under native pastures (26.3 Mg ha –1). Similar land-use differences were seen for particulate and resistant organic C, and total N. The proportional differences between land uses were much greater for particulate organic C than other measures, and were also significant at 0.1–0.2 and 0.2–0.3 m. Subsurface bulk density (0.1–0.2 m) was lower under sown tropical pastures (1.42 Mg m –3) than conventionally tilled cropping (1.52 Mg m –3). For Vertosols, total organic carbon in the surface 0–0.1 m was greater under sown tropical pastures (19.0 Mg ha –1) and native pastures (20.5 Mg ha –1) than conventional tillage cropping (14.0 Mg ha –1). Similar land-use effects were seen for the particulate and humus organic C fractions, and total N. In the sown pasture species experiment, there was no significant difference in total N, total organic carbon, or any C fraction between soils under a native-grass species mixture, two improved tropical grass species, or a perennial pasture legume. Regular monitoring is required to better discern whether gradual changes are being masked by spatial and temporal variation. The survey results support previous research on Vertosols within the New South Wales North-West Slopes and Plains that show sown tropical grass pastures can improve total organic carbon. Improvements in total organic carbon on Chromosols have not previously been documented, so further targeted soil monitoring and experimentation is warranted for the region.
The Australian cereal belt stretches as an arc from north-eastern Australia to
south-western Australia (24˚S–40˚S and
125˚E–147˚E), with mean annual temperatures from 14˚C
(temperate) to 26˚C (subtropical), and with annual rainfall ranging from
250 mm to 1500 mm. The predominant soil types of the cereal belt include
Chromosols, Kandosols, Sodosols, and Vertosols, with significant areas of
Ferrosols, Kurosols, Podosols, and Dermosols, covering approximately 20 Mha of
arable cropping and 21 Mha of ley pastures.
Cultivation and cropping has led to a substantial loss of soil organic matter
(SOM) from the Australian cereal belt; the long-term SOM loss often exceeds
60% from the top 0–0.1 m depth after 50 years of cereal cropping.
Loss of labile components of SOM such as sand-size or particulate SOM,
microbial biomass, and mineralisable nitrogen has been even higher, thus
resulting in greater loss in soil productivity than that assessed from the
loss of total SOM alone. Since SOM is heterogeneous in nature, the
significance and functions of its various components are ambiguous. It is
essential that the relationship between levels of total SOM or its identif
iable components and the most affected soil properties be established and then
quantif ied before the concentrations or amounts of SOM and/or its
components can be used as a performance indicator. There is also a need for
experimentally verifiable soil organic C pools in modelling the dynamics and
management of SOM. Furthermore, the interaction of environmental pollutants
added to soil, soil microbial biodiversity, and SOM is poorly understood and
therefore requires further study. Biophysically appropriate and cost-effective
management practices for cereal cropping lands are required for restoring and
maintaining organic matter for sustainable agriculture and restoration of
degraded lands. The additional benefit of SOM restoration will be an increase
in the long-term greenhouse C sink, which has the potentialto reduce
greenhouse emissions by about 50 Mt CO2
equivalents/year over a 20-year period, although current improved
agricultural practices can only sequester an estimated 23% of the
potential soil C sink.
Purpose
This study of seven foods assessed whether there are modes or locations of production that require significantly fewer inputs, and hence cause less pollution, than others. For example, would increasing imports of field-grown tomatoes from the Mediterranean reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by reducing the need for production in heated greenhouses in the UK, taking account of the additional transport emissions? Is meat production in the UK less polluting than the import of red meat from the southern hemisphere?
Methods
We carried out a life-cycle inventory for each commodity, which quantified flows relating to life-cycle assessment (LCA) impact categories: primary energy use, acidification, eutrophication, abiotic resource use, pesticide use, land occupation and ozone depletion. The system boundary included all production inputs up to arrival at the retail distribution centre (RDC). The allocation of production burdens for meat products was on the basis of economic value. We evaluated indicator foods from which it is possible to draw parallels for foods whose production follows a similar chain: tomatoes (greenhouse crops), strawberries (field-grown soft fruit), apples (stored for year-round supply or imported during spring and summer), potatoes (early season imports or long-stored UK produce), poultry and beef (imported from countries such as Brazil) and lamb (imported to balance domestic spring–autumn supply).
Results and discussion
Total pre-farm gate global warming potential (GWP) of potatoes and beef were less for UK production than for production in the alternative country. Up to delivery to the RDC, total GWP were less for UK potatoes, beef and apples than for production elsewhere. Production of tomatoes and strawberries in Spain, poultry in Brazil and lamb in New Zealand produced less GWP than in the UK despite emissions that took place during transport. For foods produced with only small burdens of GWP, such as apples and strawberries, the burden from transport may be a large proportion of the total. For foods with inherently large GWP per tonne, such as meat products, burdens arising from transport may only be a small proportion of the total.
Conclusions
When considering the GWP of food production, imports from countries where productivity is greater and/or where refrigerated storage requirement is less will lead to less total GWP than axiomatic preference for local produce. However, prioritising GWP may lead to increases in other environmental burdens, in particular leading to both greater demands on and decreasing quality of water resources.
The increase in the consumption of animal products
is likely to put further pressure on the world’s
freshwater resources. This paper provides a comprehensive
account of the water footprint of animal
products, considering different production systems
and feed composition per animal type and country.
Nearly one-third of the total water footprint of
agriculture in the world is related to the production
of animal products. The water footprint of any
animal product is larger than the water footprint of
crop products with equivalent nutritional value.
The average water footprint per calorie for beef is
20 times larger than for cereals and starchy roots.
The water footprint per gram of protein for milk,
eggs and chicken meat is 1.5 times larger than for
pulses. The unfavorable feed conversion efficiency
for animal products is largely responsible for the
relatively large water footprint of animal products
compared to the crop products. Animal products
from industrial systems generally consume and
pollute more ground- and surface-water resources
than animal products from grazing or mixed systems.
The rising global meat consumption and the
intensification of animal production systems will
put further pressure on the global freshwater
resources in the coming decades. The study shows
that from a freshwater perspective, animal products
from grazing systems have a smaller blue and grey
water footprint than products from industrial systems,
and that it is more water-efficient to obtain
calories, protein and fat through crop products than
animal products
In Australia, pastures form the basis of the extensive livestock industries and are important components of crop rotation systems. Despite recent interest in the soil carbon sequestration value of pastures in the mitigation of climate change, little information is available on the soil carbon sequestration potential of pastures in New South Wales farming systems. To quantify the soil carbon stocks under different pastures and a range of pasture management practices, a field survey of soil carbon stocks was undertaken in 2007 in central and southern NSW as well as north-eastern Victoria, using a paired-site approach. Five comparisons were included: native v. introduced perennial, perennial v. annual, continuous v. rotational grazing, pasture cropping v. control, and improved v. unimproved pastures. Results indicated a wide range of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks over 0-0.30 m (22.4-66.3 t C/ha), with little difference when calculated based on either constant soil depth or constant soil mass. Significantly higher SOC stocks were found only as a result of pasture improvement using P application compared with unimproved pastures. In this case, rates of sequestration were estimated to range between 0.26 and 0.72 t C/ha. year, with a mean rate of 0.41 t C/ha. year. Lack of significant differences in SOC stocks for the other pastures and pasture management practice comparisons could be due to inherent problems associated with the paired-site survey approach, i.e. large variability, difficulties in obtaining accurate site history, and the occasional absence of a valid control as well as the likely lower rates of SOC sequestration for these other comparisons. There is a need for scientific long-term trials to quantify the SOC sequestration potential of these other pastures and pasture management practices.
Purpose
This paper describes part of the first detailed environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) of Australian red meat (beef and sheep meat) production. The study was intended to assist the methodological development of life cycle impact assessment by examining the feasibility of new indicators for natural resource management (NRM) issues relevant to soil management in agricultural LCA. This paper is intended to describe the NRM indicators directly related to agricultural soil chemistry.
Materials and methods
Three nutrient management indicators—nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) balances—were estimated on the basis of 1 kg of hot standard carcass weight (HSCW) for three grazing properties in Australia. We also examined a soil acidification indicator based on the effects of agricultural practices.
Results and discussion
The N balance for the grazing properties varied from a loss of 28 g N/kg HSCW to an accumulation of 170 g N/kg HSCW. For comparison, the N content of cattle is about 24 g/kg liveweight. The main contributors to these changes were the growth of N-fixing pastures (or lack thereof) and the application of fertilisers. The P and the K balances showed similar results, varying from a 3.9-g loss to a 19-g accumulation of P and a 4-g loss to a 95-g accumulation of K per kilogram HSCW. Decisions about pasture management were also reflected in the results of the soil acidification indicator. We also identified that soil erosion at the grazing properties is a significant component of nutrient losses.
Conclusions
The results suggest that reducing the leaching of soil N might be the best way to balance the N budget without causing acidification. The NRM indicators developed can be benchmarked against other production systems as the application of these indicators progresses.
This essential reference provides an introduction to the remarkable soils and landscapes of Australia. It reveals their great diversity and explains why an understanding of soil properties and landscape processes should guide our use of the land. Using striking photographs of characteristic landscapes, it begins by describing the basic properties of soils and how Australia's distinctive soils and landscapes have co-evolved. We gain a greater understanding of why particular soils occur at certain locations and how soil variation can influence landscape processes, agricultural productivity and ecosystem function. The book explains the impact of various forms of land use and the changes they can bring about in soil. This is followed by an invaluable compendium that describes and illustrates over 100 of the more important and widespread soils of Australia, along with their associated landscapes. There is a brief account of each soil's environment, usage and qualities as well as details on chemical and physical properties so we can make more informed decisions about appropriate land-use. Australian Soils and Landscapes will be a valuable resource for farmers, natural resource managers, soil and environmental scientists, students and anyone with an interest in Australia's unique environment.
Jerome believed that the task of the commentator was to convey what others have said, not to advance his own interpretations. However, an examination of his commentaries on the Prophets shows that their contents are arranged so as to construct a powerful, but tacit, position of authority for their compiler. By juxtaposing Jewish and Greek Christian interpretations as he does, Jerome places himself in the position of arbiter over both exegetical traditions. But because he does not explicitly assert his own authority, he can maintain a stance of humility appropriate for a monk. Here, Jerome may have been a more authentic representative of the tradition of Origen than was his rival, for all that he was willing to abjure Origen's theology.
Most agricultural products are produced on farms where there is a mix of activities, resulting in a range of co-products. This raises the issue of how best to model these complex production systems for Life Cycle Assessment, especially where there are benefits imparted by one activity in the mixed farming system to another. On the mixed farm studied, there were significant two-way reference flows (representing 288 t CO2-e/year or 10% of the total farm emissions) between activities producing distinct products (wool, meat, grain) and these were modelled using system expansion. Cropping and sheep activities were modelled as separate sub-processes in the farming system, with unique inputs and outputs identified for each. Co-production from the sheep activity was modelling using allocation, comparing biophysical and economic relationships. Using an economic allocation resulted in different estimates of global warming impact for sheep co-products, with figures varying by 7–52%. When compared to biophysical allocation, economic allocation shifted the environmental burden to the higher value co-products and away from the high resource use products. Using economic allocation, for every kilogram of wool produced there was an estimated 28.7 kg of CO2-e emitted. Amongst the live animal products, the stud rams had the highest estimated carbon footprint (719 kg CO2-e/ram). Amongst the crops, estimates of emissions for the cereal grains averaged 202 kg CO2-e/tonne grain, canola 222 kg CO2-e/tonne and lupins 510 kg CO2-e/tonne, when modelled to include the benefits of the mixed farming system.
Light-textured soils (<35% clay) make up more than 80%, by area, of cropping soils in Australia. Many have inherent soil physical problems, e.g. hardsetting, sodicity and low organic carbon levels. Maintenance and improvement of soil organic carbon levels are crucial to preserving the soil structure and physical fertility of these soils.A review of field trials on conservation tillage (3–19 years duration) on these soils in southern Australia revealed that significantly higher soil organic carbon levels compared with conventional tillage were found only in the wetter areas (>500 mm) and the differences were restricted to the top 2.5–10.0 cm. The average magnitude of the difference was lower than that reported in the USA. The lack of a positive response to conservation tillage is probably a reflection of a number of factors, namely low crop yield (due to low rainfall), partial removal of stubble by grazing and the high decomposition rate (due to the high temperature). There is evidence suggesting that under continuous cropping in the drier areas, the soil organic carbon level continues to decline, even under conservation tillage.Better soil structure and soil physical properties, namely macro-porosity, aggregate stability and higher infiltration have been reported under conservation tillage when compared with conventional tillage. However, little information on long-term changes of these properties under conservation tillage is available. As many of these soil qualities are associated directly or indirectly with soil organic carbon levels, the lack of significant increase in the latter suggests that many of these improvements may not be sustainable in the longer term, particularly in the drier areas. Continuous monitoring of long-term changes in the soil organic carbon and soil quality under conservation tillage in different agro-ecological zones is needed.
The efficacy of technologies to reduce enteric CH4 emissions from ruminants are typically evaluated on individual animals with little consideration of enterprise scale impacts. While impacts of the many rumen manipulations being studied are hard to anticipate, there is adequate information to assess impacts of farm management changes and potential animal genetic changes on whole farm productivity and enteric CH4 emissions. Seven common sheep production systems grazing an annual pasture in central New South Wales, Australia, were modelled using GrassGro® (version 3.1.2). A range of animal management and animal genetic strategies were examined for their impact on total enteric emissions, emission intensity (i.e., kg CO2 equivalent/kg live weight (LW) of animal sold) and profit. Within enterprises, mitigation options were compared at their respective sustainable economic optimum stocking rate as it was assumed that farmers would seek to achieve the highest sustainable profit achievable from a finite land resource. Management options considered were choice of lambing time, mating ewes for the first time as lambs rather than yearlings, and feeding lambs to reduce time to slaughter. The potential for using selective animal breeding was also tested, with sheep physiological parameters being altered in GrassGro® to represent genetic improvement in fecundity, LW gain, residual feed intake and CH4 yield. In general, the management choices delivering lowest emission intensity were also the most profitable within sustainability constraints. Mating maiden ewes as lambs was only effective in reducing enterprise emissions intensity in self-replacing flocks (i.e., no purchased replacements). When stocking rates were at the sustainable economic optimum, choice of enterprise or management had little influence on total enteric emissions from the enterprise. If decisions are guided solely by economics, farmers are likely to continue with similar levels of production (and emissions) until a price on enteric CH4 emissions makes the sheep enterprise unprofitable, or an alternative more profitable enterprise than sheep grazing emerges. Improving animal genetics for residual feed intake or CH4 yield offers opportunity to reduce enterprise emissions, but industry progress toward higher genetic merit for these traits is expected to be slow due to relatively low heritability and competing economic imperatives for progress in other traits.This paper is part of the special issue entitled: Greenhouse Gases in Animal Agriculture – Finding a Balance between Food and Emissions, Guest Edited by T.A. McAllister, Section Guest Editors: K.A. Beauchemin, X. Hao, S. McGinn and Editor for Animal Feed Science and Technology, P.H. Robinson.
This paper reviews estimates of food related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the global, regional and national levels, highlighting both GHG-intensive stages in the food chain, and GHG-intensive food types. It examines approaches that have been proposed for mitigating emissions at each stage in the chain and looks at how these sit within wider discussions of sustainability. It finds that efficiency-focused technological measures, while important, may not only be insufficient in reducing GHGs to the level required but may also give rise to other environmental and ethical concerns. It gives evidence showing that in addition to technological mitigation it will also be necessary to shift patterns of consumption, and in particular away from diets rich in GHG-intensive meat and dairy foods. This will be necessary not just in the developed but also, in the longer term, in the developing world. This move, while potentially beneficial for food secure, wealthier populations, raises potentially serious nutritional questions for the world's poorest. A priority for decision makers is to develop policies that explicitly seek to integrate agricultural, environmental and nutritional objectives.
Background and theoryLife cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle inventory (LCI) practice needs to engage with the debate on water use in agriculture
and industry. In the case of the red meat sector, some of the methodologies proposed or in use cannot easily inform the debate
because either the results are not denominated in units that are meaningful to the public or the results do not reflect environmental
outcomes. This study aims to solve these problems by classifying water use LCI data in the Australian red meat sector in a
manner consistent with contemporary definitions of sustainability. We intend to quantify water that is removed from the course
it would take in the absence of production or degraded in quality by the production system.
Materials and methodsThe water used by three red meat supply systems in southern Australia was estimated using hybrid LCA. Detailed process data
incorporating actual growth rates and productivity achieved in two calendar years were complemented by an input–output analysis
of goods and services purchased by the properties. Detailed hydrological modelling using a standard agricultural software
package was carried out using actual weather data.
ResultsThe model results demonstrated that the major hydrological flows in the system are rainfall and evapotranspiration. Transferred
water flows and funds represent small components of the total water inputs to the agricultural enterprise, and the proportion
of water degraded is also small relative to the water returned pure to the atmosphere. The results of this study indicate
that water used to produce red meat in southern Australia is 18–540L/kg HSCW, depending on the system, reference year and
whether we focus on source or discharge characteristics.
InterpretationTwo key factors cause the considerable differences between the water use data presented by different authors: the treatment
of rain and the feed production process. Including rain and evapotranspiration in LCI data used in simple environmental discussions
is the main cause of disagreement between authors and is questionable from an environmental impact perspective because in
the case of some native pastoral systems, these flows may not have changed substantially since the arrival of Europeans. Regarding
the second factor, most of the grain and fodder crops used in the three red meat supply chains we studied in Australia are
produced by dryland cropping. In other locations where surface water supplies are more readily available, such as the USA,
irrigation of cattle fodder is more common. So whereas the treatment of rain is a methodological issue relevant to all studies
relating water use to the production of red meat, the availability of irrigation water can be characterised as a fundamental
difference between the infrastructure of red meat production systems in different locations.
ConclusionsOur results are consistent with other published work when the methodological diversity of their work and the approaches we
have used are taken into account. We show that for media claims that tens or hundreds of thousands of litres of water are
used in the production of red meat to be true, analysts have to ignore the environmental consequences of water use. Such results
may nevertheless be interesting if the purpose of their calculations is to focus on calorific or financial gain rather than
environmental optimisation.
Recommendations and perspectivesOur approach can be applied to other agricultural systems. We would not suggest that our results can be used as industry averages.
In particular, we have not examined primary data for northern Australian beef production systems, where the majority of Australia’s
export beef is produced.
KeywordsBeef-Hybrid LCA-Meat-Sheep-Water
PurposeFreshwater scarcity is a problem in many areas of the world and will become one of the most sensitive environmental issues
in coming decades. Existing life cycle assessment (LCA) methodologies generally do not provide assessment schemes or characterization
factors of the potential environmental impacts of freshwater use or freshwater resource depletion. These assessments therefore
do not account for the significant environmental consequences of the loss in quality and availability of freshwater. This
paper aims to develop a framework to address this methodological limitation and to support further quantitative modeling of
the cause–effect chain relationships of water use. The framework includes recommendations for life cycle inventory (LCI) modeling
and provides a description of possible impact pathways for life cycle impact assessment (LCIA), including indicators on midpoint
and endpoint levels that reflect different areas of protection (AoP).
MethodologyLCI of freshwater use aims to quantify changes in freshwater availability. The key elements affected by changes in availability
are sufficient freshwater supplies for contemporary human users, ecosystems, and future generations, the latter referring
to the renewability of the resource. Three midpoint categories are therefore proposed and linked to common AoP as applied
in LCIA.
Results and discussionWe defined a set of water types, each representing an elementary flow. Water balances for each type allows the quantification
of changes in freshwater availability. These values are recommended as results for the LCI of water use. Insufficient freshwater
supplies for contemporary human users can mean freshwater deficits for human uses, which is the first midpoint impact category ultimately affecting the AoP of human life; freshwater deficits in ecosystems is the second proposed midpoint impact category and is linked to the AoP biotic environment. Finally, the last midpoint category
is freshwater depletion caused by intensive overuse that exceeds the regeneration rate, which itself is ultimately linked to the AoP abiotic environment.
Depending on the regional context, the development of scenarios aimed to compensate for the lack of water for specific uses
by using backup technologies (e.g., saltwater treatment, the import of agricultural goods) can avoid generating direct impacts
on the midpoint impact category freshwater deficits for human uses. Indirect impacts must be assessed through an extension of system boundaries including these backup technologies. Because
freshwater is a resource with high spatial and temporal variability, the proposed framework discusses aspects of regionalization
in relationship to data availability, appropriate spatial and temporal resolution, and software capacities to support calculations.
ConclusionsThe framework provides recommendations for the development of operational LCA methods for water use. It establishes the link
between LCI and LCIA, water-use mechanism models, and impact pathways to environmental damages in a consistent way.
RecommendationsBased on this framework, next steps consist of the development of operational methods for both inventory modeling and impact
assessment.
KeywordsFreshwater resources-Freshwater use-Life cycle impact assessment-Life cycle inventory
This extremely inspiring Discussion Forum showed potentials and limitations of using data and methodologies from economic
input-output analysis in environmental assessments. It has to be noted that components from IO-analysis can offer advancements
in LCA, mainly in capturing a more complete system. The specific benefit strongly depends on the application and goal of a
study. Pure IO-LCA does not have the potential to replace process LCA, because only the later is capable of studying specific
components or design options within a given industrial sector. Overall, the hybrid LCA approach seems to be very promising,
though extensive, further research and case studies are necessary to improve and validate its application. On the one hand,
significant progress in IO-data availability has to be made in the coming years, especially in Europe and emerging countries.
On the other hand, IO-LCA tools are already available and should be applied systematically in conjunction with process LCA,
at least to check that the most significant processes and sectors have been included in the system description and definition.
Through the interconnectedness of global business, the local consumption of products and services is intervening in the hydrological cycle throughout the world to an unprecedented extent. In order to address the unsustainable use of global freshwater resources, indicators are needed which make the impacts of production systems and consumption patterns transparent. In this paper, a revised water footprint calculation method, incorporating water stress characterisation factors, is presented and demonstrated for two case study products, Dolmio® pasta sauce and Peanut M&M's® using primary production data. The method offers a simple, yet meaningful way of making quantitative comparisons between products, production systems and services in terms of their potential to contribute to water scarcity. As such, capacity is created for change through public policy as well as corporate and individual action. This revised method represents an alternative to existing volumetric water footprint calculation methods which combine green and blue water consumption from water scarce and water abundant regions such that they give no clear indication about where the actual potential for harm exists.
Greenhouse gas emissions from beef production are a significant part of Australia's total contribution to climate change. For the first time an environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) hybridizing detailed on-site process modeling and input-output analysis is used to describe Australian red meat production. In this paper we report the carbon footprint and total energy consumption of three supply chains in three different regions in Australia over two years. The greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy use data are compared to those from international studies on red meat production, and the Australian results are either average or below average. The increasing proportion of lot-fed beef in Australia is favorable, since this production system generates lower total GHG emissions than grass-fed production; the additional effort in producing and transporting feeds is effectively offset by the increased efficiency of meat production in feedlots. In addition to these two common LCA indicators, in this paper we also quantify solid waste generation and a soil erosion indicator on a common basis.
A method for assessing the environmental impacts of freshwater consumption was developed. This method considers damages to three areas of protection: human health, ecosystem quality, and resources. The method can be used within most existing life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methods. The relative importance of water consumption was analyzed by integrating the method into the Eco-indicator-99 LCIA method. The relative impact of water consumption in LCIA was analyzed with a case study on worldwide cotton production. The importance of regionalized characterization factors for water use was also examined in the case study. In arid regions, water consumption may dominate the aggregated life-cycle impacts of cotton-textile production. Therefore, the consideration of water consumption is crucial in life-cycle assessment (LCA) studies that include water-intensive products, such as agricultural goods. A regionalized assessment is necessary, since the impacts of water use vary greatly as a function of location. The presented method is useful for environmental decision-support in the production of water-intensive products as well as for environmentally responsible value-chain management.
Fourteen mature, ovariectomized, western-range ewes with an initial mean BW of 72 +/- 4.5 kg and mean condition score (CS) of 7.5 +/- .3 were used to evaluate the relationship between CS and body composition. Diets of chopped straw and alfalfa hay were formulated to provide either maintenance energy or less than maintenance energy (100 or 60% of ME) to induce changes in BW and CS. After 180 d, ewes were weighted, scored for body condition, and slaughtered. All carcass components, viscera, and organs were analyzed for lipid, DM, and ash, and protein was determined by difference. Body weight and CS values were related by regression analysis to percentage of composition and weights of carcass components, carcass, and empty body. Body weight and CS were highly correlated (r = .89) and analysis indicated that each increase in CS resulted in an increase of 5.1 kg of BW. Condition score accounted for more variation of percentage of lipid in the empty body (R2 = .95) and carcass (R2 = .90) than did BW (R2 = .84 and .80, respectively). In contrast, BW accounted for more of the variation in carcass weight (R2 = .97) and empty BW (R2 = .99). Inclusion of both BW and CS in regression models did not increase the variation accounted for with the single best predictor. With mature western-range ewes in this study, CS was highly related to carcass lipids and could be used to describe energy reserves available to ewes.
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