Energy Analysis, and Carbon and Water Footprint for Environmentally Friendly Farming Practices in Agroecosystems and Agroforestry

Abstract

Agriculture accounts for 5% of the entire energy used worldwide. Most of it is not in a renewable form, so it can be linked to greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Paris Agreement, on climate change, one of its major targets is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, the agricultural production process must drastically change. Currently, the sustainable use of water is critical for any agricultural development. Agricultural production effects water quality and sufficiency, as well as, freshwater wetlands. Energy balance, carbon, and water footprint are crucial for sustainable agricultural production. Agroforestry systems are important in reducing high inputs of non-renewable energy and greenhouse gas emissions, along with better water use, leading to the most minimal influence on climate change. Energy analysis, carbon, and water footprint can be applied to agroforestry systems’ production. An outline could be applied by adopting a modified—for agricultural production—life cycle assessment methodology to assess energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and water consumption in agroforestry ecosystems.

Digital Transformation for Sustainable Future - Agriculture 4.0 : A review

“…Along with the latest developments in semi-autonomous systems and agricultural robots in this process, it seems that the process has accelerated among farmers. Figure 5 shows the connections between different technical systems and sensors, especially from geolocation and sensing systems to decision support, variable-rate operation, and route planning among emerging technologies in PA (Pedersen 2017).…”

“…At global level, while consuming approximately 30% of the total energy in during agri-food production, this causes nearly one third of GHG emissions (FAO 2020;Platis et al 2019). Global food systems are responsible for about 25% to 42% of all global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions emitted during production, processing, transportation, packaging, consuming, and disposing of food according to a study carried out for the years 1990-2015 (Crippa et al 2021).…”

Comparative Analysis of Hybrid Electric Architectures for Specialized Agricultural Tractors

“…However, with productivity comes a high impact on the environment. In particular, cultivation agriculture alone can be seen as responsible for almost 20% of the annual global production of CO 2 emissions [2]. Other harmful products, such as NO x and particulate matter, are the undesired effects of all the heavy-duty agricultural machinery propelled by high-power diesel engines to perform their daily activities [3].…”

Effects of Alternative Fertilization and Irrigation Practices on the Energy Use and Carbon Footprint of Canning Peach Orchards

“…A carbon footprint (expressed as the GWP in net kilograms CO 2 or equivalent for other greenhouse gases such as methane (CH 4 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) released or sequestered per functional unit of the product or practice] is usually the most common component of LCA systems [2]. GHG emissions are also directly linked with energy use in agriculture [5].…”