What is the potential for reducing national greenhouse gas emissions from crop and livestock production systems?

Date published

2014-01-31

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Volume Title

Publisher

Elsevier

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Type

Article

ISSN

0959-6526

Format

Citation

Eric Audsley, Mike Wilkinson, What is the potential for reducing national greenhouse gas emissions from crop and livestock production systems?, Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 73, 15 June 2014

Abstract

Agriculture has a devolved commitment to reduce national emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). Using a systems model-based life-cycle analysis we explored the potential for reducing GHG in systems used to produce twelve crop and seven livestock commodities. With a functional unit of kg of product, differences in GHG between crops reflect differences in yield. Metabolisable energy (ME) or crude protein (CP) could be used, but deriving an economic value of GB£8.6/GJ ME and GB£0.62/kg CP, leads to a relatively consistent 2.6 kg CO2e/£ nutrient value. Potential GHG reductions ranged from 2% (sugar beet) to 15% (cereals) with agronomic changes, and 4–12% with increased crop yields. The best alternative livestock systems reduced GHG ranging between 7% (beef from the dairy herd) and 21% (extensive sheep meat). Half of the options reduced national production and hence increased imports. Overall, improvements in productivity and use of resources are the best options for reducing GHG

Description

Software Description

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Github

Keywords

Policy, Global warming potential, Crops, Livestock

DOI

Rights

“NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in the Journal of Cleaner Production. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Cleaner Production, VOL 73, 15 June 2014, DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.01.066”

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