Beschrijving
The rising demand for food and feed has put an increasing pressure on agriculture, with agricultural intensification as a direct response. This contributes to a higher crop productivity. However, intensive agricultural practices entail adverse environmental impacts because they take a huge toll on land resources and soil quality, and so they can compromise the ability to produce biomass in the long term. In the transition towards sustainable agriculture, a thoughtful selection of farm management practices that are environmentally sound and yet secure food production is required. Evaluations of environmental sustainability are increasingly based on life cycle assessments (LCAs). However, difficulties and gaps exist when conducting an agricultural LCA. The aims of this thesis were to gain a better understanding and to develop methodologies to cope with these challenges.A first complexity is the large variability among agricultural systems. The main drivers causing variability and the extent to which this variability affects the environmental performance have been explored. Second, a framework with proper indicators is proposed to account for the impact of land use practices on soil quality and long-term productivity, aspects that were rather poorly addressed in LCA up to now. Finally, an approach is developed to not only account in LCA for the yield but for a range of ecosystem services delivered by an agro-ecosystem. This approach allows to fairly compare the environmental sustainability of organic and conventional food production systems.
The findings of this thesis enable to more correctly evaluate the environmental sustainability of agricultural practices, which is an important asset in stimulating sustainable farming.
Dagelijkse begeleiding Lieselot Boone bij haar doctoraatsonderzoek
Periode | 1-jan-2015 → 31-dec-2018 |
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Gehouden op | UGent, Faculteit Bio-Ingenieurswetenschappen, Vakgroep EnVoc, België |
Mate van erkenning | Internationaal |
Documenten en links
Gerelateerde inhoud
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Publicaties
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Accounting for the impact of agricultural land use practices on soil organic carbon stock and yield under the area of protection natural resources - Illustrated for Flanders
Onderzoeksoutput: Bijdrage aan tijdschrift › A1: Web of Science-artikel › peer review
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Introduction of a natural resource balance indicator to assess soil organic carbon management: Agricultural Biomass Productivity Benefit
Onderzoeksoutput: Bijdrage aan tijdschrift › A1: Web of Science-artikel › peer review
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Assessing the consequences of policy measures on long-term agricultural productivity - Quantification for Flanders
Onderzoeksoutput: Bijdrage aan tijdschrift › A1: Web of Science-artikel › peer review
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Environmental sustainability of conventional and organic farming: Accounting for ecosystem services in life cycle assessment
Onderzoeksoutput: Bijdrage aan tijdschrift › A1: Web of Science-artikel › peer review
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Projecten