Eco-efficient production of spring barley in a changed climate: A Life Cycle Assessment including primary data from future climate scenarios

Abstract

The paper has two main objectives: (i) to assess the eco-efficiency of spring barley cultivation for malting in Denmark in a future changed climate (700 ppm [CO 2 ] and +5ºC) through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and (ii) to compare alternative future cultivation scenarios, both excluding and including earlier sowing and cultivar selection as measures of adaptation to a changed climate. A baseline scenario describing the current spring barley cultivation in Denmark was defined, and the expected main deviations were identified (differences in pesticide treatment index, modifications in nitrate leaching and change in crop yield). The main input data originate from experiments, where spring barley cultivars were cultivated in a climate phytotron under controlled and manipulated treatments. Effects of changed climate on both crop productivity and crop quality were represented, as well as impacts of predicted extreme events, simulated through a long heat-wave. LCA results showed that the changed climatic conditions will likely increase the negative impacts on the environment from Danish spring barley cultivation, since all environmental impact categories experienced increased impact for all investigated scenarios, except under the very optimistic assumption that the pace of yield improvement by breeding in the future will be the same as it was in the last decades. The main driver of the increased environmental impact was identified as the reduction in crop yield. Therefore, potential adaptation strategies should mainly focus on maintaining or improving crop productivity. The LCA also showed that selection of proper cultivars for future climate conditions including the challenge from extreme events is one of the most effective ways to reduce future environmental impacts of spring barley. Finally, if yield measurements are based on relative protein content, the negative effects of the future climate seem to be reduced.

Environmental impacts of barley cultivation under current and future climatic conditions

“…Even though LCA is a suitable methodology to answer that question, it has, to the best of our knowledge, rarely been applied to do so. Niero et al (2015) studied the environmental impacts of Danish spring barley under changing climate circumstances. In contrast to these authors' approach, the assumptions for the future climatic circumstances on which this paper is based, are more moderate.…”

A new tool for life cycle inventories of agricultural machinery operations

“…Common crop production systems consist of cereals (e.g., maize, rice and winter crops; ISTAT, 2011) for which usual local mechanical operations are carried out (e.g., tillage, crop management, irrigation, drying). By adopting Ecoinvent (Ecoinvent, 2015) in this context, data often result too much simplified and/or totally missing because average European assumptions are not valid (Hansson et al, 2001;Nemecek and Kägi, 2007;Ossés de Eicker et al, 2010;Fiala and Bacenetti, 2012;Bacenetti et al, 2014;Niero et al, 2015;Tendall and Gaillard, 2015). The lack is especially evident when the study focuses on field conditions different from those defined by Ecoinvent.…”

Environmental impacts of irrigated and rain-fed barley production in Iran using life cycle assessment (LCA)

“…A direct comparison among the results from different LCA studies is not always straightforward due to the different system boundaries definition and assumptions. Niero et al (2015) reported different results on barley production in Denmark in which environmental impacts of fertilizers, especially N, dominated, Danish farmers consumed around 240 kg of different N fertilizers vs 140 kg in Iran. Rajaniemi et al (2011) reported that Finnish farmers applied ~ 86 kg/ha N to obtain 3380 kg/ha of barley.…”

“…The result of LCA justify that if lower yield in RFs is not a critical point and the country can preserve self-sufficiency in barley production, RF barley production is more beneficial from both energy and environment point of view. Furthermore, selection of the proper cultivars is an effective way to reduce environmental impacts of barley (Niero et al, 2015).…”