Using FADN Data to Estimate CO2 Abatement Costs from Italian Arable Crops

Abstract

The assessment of economic and environmental sustainability of agricultural systems represents a critical issue, which has been addressed in this work with a multi-objective programming model to explore the abatement costs (AC) of CO2 for a set of representative contexts of Italian arable land agriculture. The study was based on the FADN-compliant Italian database RICA and estimates the abatement costs of CO2 emissions in a short time horizon, using linear multi-objective programming and compromise programming. RICA data were used to quantify technical parameters of the model, adopting an innovative concept of a cropping scheme to simulate land-use adaptation. The study shows a quite diversified situation regarding income and emission levels per hectare across the Italian region and farm classes. A reduction of CO2 emissions higher than 5 kg/ha at an AC lower than 1 EUR/kg is affordable only in seven regions, among which Abruzzo, Lombardy, and Puglia show the highest potential. Comparing the estimated abatement costs for CO2 emissions with the corresponding European Trade System prices highlights a difference of 1 order of magnitude, proving that emission reductions for Italian arable crops still require research and innovation to lower adaptation costs.

Farming of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in Italy: Structural Features and Economic Results

“…Within the context of Italy, several studies have employed the FADN to analyze productivity and its environmental implications [31,32]. Additionally, it has been employed to assess the impact of rural development policies and programs [33][34][35][36], with a specific focus on organic farming [37][38][39].…”

Economic and Environmental Sustainability Trade-Off Analysis in Sheep Farming Using the Farm Accountancy Data Network Database

“…Data were extracted from the FADN database, which has been used in recent years to evaluate the sustainability of the agri-food sector [31,[62][63][64][65][66]. Its principal purpose is to provide data for the EU Commission to assess the economic performance of farms and the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) [67].…”

Sustainable Viticulture of Italian Grapevines: Environmental Evaluation and Societal Cost Estimation Using EU Farm Accountancy Data Network Data

“…The research investigated whether the shift to integrated apple production is an improvement in terms of environmental impacts compared to conventional production. Bazzani et al [27] simulated the abatement costs of CO 2 emissions over a short time horizon, considering different arable systems in Italy based on the Italian FADN database. To reflect the heterogeneity of farms in terms of GHG emissions, Balezentis et al [28] estimated the eco-efficiency, shadow price, and marginal abatement costs of dairy farms in Lithuania based on the FADN data for 2015, 2017, and 2019, for which herd size, labour, feed costs, agricultural land, and capital were considered inputs, whereas milk production and greenhouse gas emissions were used as the desirable output and undesirable output, respectively; farm-specific emission parameters were also calculated.…”