Assessing GHG mitigation options for crops at regional level using ecosystem modelling and LCA

Pietro Goglio (1) , Benoit Gabrielle (2) , Caroline Colnenne-David (3) , Patricia Laville (2) , Thierry Doré (3) , Raymond L. Desjardins (4)

1 Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre
2 EGC - Environnement et Grandes Cultures
3 Agronomie
4 : Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre

Soil, climate and management practices make greenhouse gas (GHG) emission estimates associated with crop production highly uncertain. Biophysical modelling provides reliable reactive nitrogen (Nr) estimates for environmental assessment. In this paper LCA and ecosystem modelling are combined to improve GHG estimation from cropping systems in the Paris (France) area, and to compare environmental impacts of two cropping systems at regional level. A cropping system aimed at productivity with high environmental performance (PHEP), while the other one aimed to reduce (GHG) emissions by half (50%GHG). Model-derived GHG estimates for crop production were at least 7% lower than estimates from the standard methodology applied to LCA, emphasizing the importance of regional factors in agricultural LCAs. The 50%GHG cropping system appears promising (184% reduction in the life-cycle GHG emissions) for climate mitigation of arable crops, pending trade-offs with other impact categories.

Mots clés: LCA; GHG; regional level; CERES-EGC model; cropping systems

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Pietro Goglio, Benoit Gabrielle, Caroline Colnenne-David, Patricia Laville, Thierry Doré, et al.. Assessing GHG mitigation options for crops at regional level using ecosystem modelling and LCA. 9. International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment in the Agri-Food Sector (LCA Food 2014), Oct 2014, san Francisco, United States. ⟨hal-01173359⟩