Life cycle assessment in Brazilian agriculture facing worldwide trends

Ruviaro, Clândio Favarini; Gianezini, Miguelangelo; Brandão, Fernanda Scharnberg; Winck, César Augustus; Dewes, Homero

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2011.10.015

Cited by 113 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…First, in Brazil, there are only a few studies on beef production using the Life Cycle Assessment methodology (Ruviaro et al, 2012). One very significant problem is the variation in choice of functional unit and time scale among studies (de Vries and de Boer, 2010).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon footprint in different beef production systems on a southern Brazilian farm: a case study

Ruviaro

Léis²,

Lampert

et al. 2015

Journal of Cleaner Production

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104

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a b s t r a c tThe carbon footprint (CF) of beef production is one of the most widely discussed environmental issues within the current agricultural community due to its association with climate change. Because of these relevant and serious concerns, the beef cattle industry is under increasing pressure to reduce production or implement technological changes with significant consequences in terms of beef marketing. The goals of this study were to evaluate the CF per 1 kg of live weight gain (LWG) at the farm gate for different beef production systems in the southern part of Brazil. Aberdeen Angus beef-bred cattle were assigned to one of seven categories: natural grass; improved natural grass; natural grass plus ryegrass; improved natural grass plus sorghum; cultivated ryegrass and sorghum; natural grass supplemented with protein mineralised salt; and natural grass supplemented with protein-energetic mineralised salt. Monte Carlo analysis was employed to analyse the effect of variations of dry matter intake digestibility (DMID), total digestible nutrients (TDN) and crude protein (CP) parameters in methane (CH 4 ) enteric, CH 4 manure, nitrous oxide (N 2 O) manure and N 2 O N-fertiliser. The method used was a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) centred on the CF. The CF varied from 18.3 kg CO 2 equivalent/kg LWG for the ryegrass and sorghum pasture system to 42.6 kg CO 2 equivalent/kg LWG for the natural grass system, including the contributions of cows, calves and steers. Among all grassland-based cattle farms, production systems with DMID from 52 to 59% achieved the lowest CO 2 emissions and the highest feed conversion rate, thereby generating lower CH 4 and N 2 O emissions per production system. Because the feed intake and feed conversion rate are one of the most important production parameters in beef cattle production with an obvious risk of data uncertainty, accurate feed data, which include quantity and quality, are important in estimates of CF for LWG. The choice of adequate feeding strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions may result in better environmental advantages.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon footprint in different beef production systems on a southern Brazilian farm: a case study

Ruviaro

Léis²,

Lampert

et al. 2015

Journal of Cleaner Production

Self Cite

104

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Among the recent LCA agricultural studies (Mouron et al, 2006;Zufia & Arana, 2008;Pardo & Zufia, 2012;Roer et al, 2012;Ruviaro et al, 2012), only one study evaluated the application of LCA in the cocoa production in Ghana, in which the entire system was required to produce and process 1 kg of cocoa (Ntiamoah & Afrane, 2008). On the other hand, TLF quantifies the variability of a given process.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying life cycle management of colombian cocoa production

2014

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“…No Brasil, os estudos de ACV são incipientes, porém importantes para atender à demanda de novas diretrizes de desenvolvimento futuro do mercado do leite, através da definição de critérios ambientais DOI: 10.1590 confiáveis para os processos de tomada de decisão (RUVIARO et al, 2012). O objetivo desta revisão foi resumir os resultados de pesquisas e estudos de caso de ACV relacionados à cadeia de produção de leite bovino no Brasil e internacionalmente, de 2008 a 2014, apontando resultados relevantes, e realizar uma análise crítica das principais categorias de impacto da atividade leiteira indicadas pela literatura: mudança climática, acidificação, eutrofização, uso da terra e demanda de energia.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Avaliação do Ciclo de Vida na bovinocultura leiteira e as oportunidades ao Brasil

Seó

Filho

Ruviaro

et al. 2017

Eng. Sanit. Ambient.

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RESUMO: A Avaliação do Ciclo de Vida (ACV) é uma ferramenta capaz de estimar o potencial de emissões e apontar as fases críticas de um determinado produto ou processo em todo o seu ciclo de vida. O objetivo deste trabalho foi resumir os principais resultados das pesquisas e estudos de caso em ACV relacionados à bovinocultura leiteira nacional e internacional, de 2008 a 2014, e realizar uma análise crítica das categorias de impacto abordadas com maior frequência pela literatura: mudança climática, acidificação, eutrofização, uso da terra e demanda de energia. De todas as fases, a produção de leite na fazenda é onde ocorre a maior parte das emissões. Os resultados apontam que os pontos críticos da bovinocultura leiteira são as emissões entéricas, produção e uso de fertilizante, uso de esterco, produção e transporte de concentrado, e a baixa produtividade animal. Em geral, a categoria de mudança climática foi contraditória com as demais categorias, razão pela qual não deve ser considerada sozinha em avaliações de impacto ambiental. No Brasil, a intensificação na produção à base de pasto apresenta-se como uma estratégia de redução de impactos, uma vez que diminui a necessidade do uso de insumos de base não renovável e aumenta o sequestro de carbono via fotossíntese.

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Life cycle assessment in Brazilian agriculture facing worldwide trends

Cited by 113 publications

References 67 publications

Carbon footprint in different beef production systems on a southern Brazilian farm: a case study

Carbon footprint in different beef production systems on a southern Brazilian farm: a case study

Applying life cycle management of colombian cocoa production

Avaliação do Ciclo de Vida na bovinocultura leiteira e as oportunidades ao Brasil

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