Year: 2013
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Food Harvest 2020 is a national plan for intensification of agriculture with specific\ntargets to be delivered by 2020. The plan envisages increases in output across a range\nof farm enterprises – dairying, beef, sheep and pigs. The motivation for this study was to\nexamine the environmental sustainability of the Food Harvest 2020 targets. The study\nwas carried out on the River Boyne catchment area.\nA wide-ranging environmental systems analysis was carried out to assess the\nenvironmental impacts associated with the intensification of agricultural production\nenvisaged in Food Harvest 2020. The following environmental impacts were assessed\nusing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) modelling: Global Warming Potential, Primary\nEnergy Use, Eutrophication Potential, Acidification Potential, Abiotic Resource, Pesticide\nUse and Land Use. Ideally, one would aim for a full LCA approach for all commodities in\nthe agricultural sector. However, this was not possible because of the complexity. The\nscope of the study was therefore limited to 10 arable crops and 4 livestock production\nsystems.\nFollowing an extensive review of the literature and consultation with expert opinion,\nthe Cranfield LCA Systems Model was selected to carry out the analysis. This model\nproved to be very suitable as it was specifically developed for agricultural purposes.\nThe modelling identified significant increases in environmental burdens associated with\nintensification of milk production, beef production and pig production. There are a\nnumber of strategies that could mitigate or offset to some degree the increased\nenvironmental burdens. The recommendation from this study is that the\nimplementation of Food Harvest 2020 should be tied to a package of transparent and\nverifiable mitigation measures. Some of the mitigation measures may be cost neutral\nand others may not. In any case business as usual is not a sustainable scenario.
Author: D. Mark Courtney
Language: English
Subfield: Agronomy and Crop Science
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W223934378