Federal Department of Economic Affairs FDEA Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station ART Variability of the global warming potential and energy demand of Swiss cheese Thomas Nemecek, Martina Alig, Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station ART, Switzerland Adrian Schmid, Markus Vaihinger, Swiss College of Agriculture, Zollikofen, Switzerland Kurt Schnebli, Fromarte, Bern, Switzerland SETAC case study symposium Budapest - 28 February 2011
Milk and cheese: key products of Swiss agriculture Milk production contributes 22% to the economic output of Swiss agriculture Switzerland is a grassland; grass is the most important feed component for dairy cows 42% of Swiss milk is transformed to cheese, mainly in 600 artisanal dairies (85%) About 1/3 of the cheese is exported Milk production has a considerable share of the environmental impact of Swiss agriculture 2
Environmental assessment of milk production (LCA-FADN project) Objectives: Evaluate the environmental performance of Swiss farms Here: analysis of milk production Analysis done within the LCA-FADN project supported by the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture Sampling by farm type, region (plain, hills, mountains) and farming system (integrated, organic) Network with 110 farms (60 in the first year), 66 dairy farms evaluated Reference values representative for each farm group Dividing farms into up to 14 product groups, milk production analysed here 3
System boundary of the farm System boundary = farm gate Resources Infrastructure Buildings Equipment Machines Purchased inputs Energy carriers Fertilisers Seed Pesticides Feedstuffs, straw Animal Water Field operations Tillage Sowing Fertilisation Maintenance Irrigation Harvest Transport to farm Fodder conservation Manure storage Animal production Feeding Milking Manure management Grazing Vegetal products, e.g. Wheat Maize Potatoes Vegetables Animal products Milk Meat Eggs Wool Indirect emissions Direct emissions 4
LCA-FADN: 14 product groups Product groups Examples Funtional unit A Plant production A1 Cereals Wheat, barley, rye, etc. kg DM A2 Maize Grain maize, silage maize, CCM, etc. kg DM A3 Beets and Potatoes Sugar beet, fodder beet, potatoes kg DM A4 Other arable and fodder crops Rape, soya beans, protein peas, sunflower, hay, kg DM grass silage, etc. A5 Vegetables Carrots, cauliflower, lettuce, etc. kg DM A6 Fruit growing Apples, cherries, etc. kg DM A7 Viticulture Grapes kg DM B Animal production B1 Milk Cow milk kg B2 Cattle fattening Cattle kg live weight B3 Cattle breeding Breeding calf / cattle kg live weight B4 Pig fattening Pig kg live weight B5 Pig breeding Piglet kg live weight B6 Other animal production Poultry, eggs, horse, sheep, sheep milk, etc. kg live weight C Nonfood Tobacco, Miscanthus, etc. kg DM 5
Dairy production Effort to reduce energy use and carbon footprint of dairies Benchmark programme: yearly recording of energy use in 250 dairies Completed with data collection on 3 selected dairies (case studies) 200'000 180'000 160'000 140'000 120'000 100'000 80'000 60'000 40'000 20'000 0 Tonnes produced 2009 Specialities Hard cheese Half hard cheese Soft cheese Fresh cheese 6
Milk processing in the dairy System boundary = dairy gate Milk production Rennet production Detergent s Salt Fresh water Buildings & equipment Transport Transport Cheese production Waste water Transport Retail 7
16 Global warming potential of cheese production F: Other inputs 0.7 D: Salt kg CO2eq/kg cheese 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 F: Animals: own absent F: Animals: direct emissions F: Animals (purchased) F: Feedstuffs (purchased) F: Pesticides F: Seed (purchased) F: Fertilisers&Nutrients F: Energy carriers F: Machinery kg CO2eq/kg cheese 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 D: Rennet D: Freshwater D: Detergents D: Wastewater D: Buildings & equipment D: Direct energy use 0 Farm F: Buildings&Equipment 0.0 Dairy 96% 4% Milk transport 8
60 Energy demand of cheese production F: Other inputs 12 D: Salt 50 40 F: Animals: own absent F: Animals: direct emissions F: Animals (purchased) 10 8 D: Rennet D: Freshwater MJ-eq/kg cheese 30 20 10 F: Feedstuffs (purchased) F: Pesticides F: Seed (purchased) F: Fertilisers&Nutrients F: Energy carriers F: Machinery MJ-eq/kg cheese 6 4 2 D: Detergents D: Wastewater D: Buildings & equipment D: Direct energy use 0 Farm F: Buildings&Equipment 0 Dairy 79% 21% Milk transport 9
Global warming potential of dairy farms and amount of milk produced 2.5 kg CO2-Eq./kg milk 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 0 100'000 200'000 300'000 400'000 500'000 Amount of milk produced (kg/year) 10
GWP of milk processed in dairies 0.18 0.16 0.14 c e s e d ro 0.12 p 0.1 ilk m0.08 / k g q0.06 2 -e 0.04 O C 0.02 0 0.0E+00 1.0E+07 2.0E+07 3.0E+07 4.0E+07 Milk processed (kg) 11
GWP and dairy size 12 All 0.0-1.0 Mio. kg 1.0-1.5 Mio. kg 1.5-2.0 Mio. kg 2-3 Mio. kg 3-5 Mio. kg 5-10 Mio. kg >10 Mio. 0.16 0.14 0.12 0.10 0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02 0.00 Milk processed kg CO2-eq/kg milk processed
Conclusions GWP dominated by milk production on farm Dairy processing more important for energy demand than for GWP High variability of energy demand and GWP for agriculture and dairy processing Trade-offs between local processing (short transports) and scale of the dairy Optimisation potentials to reduce energy use in dairies: Reduce transports (frequency and distance) Reuse thermal energy within dairy (cooling heating) Use renewable energy More efficient equipment 13
Thank you! ART Research for Agriculture and Nature Thomas.Nemecek@art.admin.ch 14