# Towards climate-neutral agriculture: exploring scenarios for arable and dairy farms

Emily Miranda Oliveira, Julie Auberger, Michael S. Corson, Hayo van Der Werf

► To cite this version:

Emily Miranda Oliveira, Julie Auberger, Michael S. Corson, Hayo van Der Werf. Towards climate-neutral agriculture: exploring scenarios for arable and dairy farms. 14th International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment of Food 2024 (LCA Food 2024), IRTA, Sep 2024, Barcelone (Espagne), Spain. hal-05132354

HAL Id: hal-05132354

https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05132354v1

Submitted on 27 Jun 2025

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access
archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci-
entific research documents, whether they are pub-
lished or not. The documents may come from
teaching and research institutions in France or
abroad, or from public or private research centers.

L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est
destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents
scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non,
émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de
recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires
publics ou privés.

<figure><img src="image_1.png" /></figure>

Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
<figure><img src="image_2.png" /></figure>

# Towards climate-neutral agriculture: exploring scenarios for arable and dairy farms

Emily Miranda Oliveira, Julie Auberger, Michael Carson and Hayo van der Werf

INRAE UMR-SAS

LCA Food - Barcelona

09.09.2024
# Climate neutrality?

<figure><img src="image_3.png" /></figure>

United Nations
Climate Change

"Net greenhouse gas emissions produced are balanced by removing an equivalent amount of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere"

<figure><img src="image_4.png" /></figure>

Albedo

<figure><img src="image_5.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_6.png" /></figure>
# ClieNFarms INRAe

## 4 focus farms:

- UK_arable

- IT_arable **Conv.**

- FR_dairy

- DE_dairy **Org.**

<figure><img src="image_7.png" /></figure>
# Life cycle assessment - LCA

## Goal and scope definition

<figure><img src="image_8.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_9.png" /></figure>

ClieN Farms
Climate Neutral Farms

## Inventory analysis

<figure><img src="image_10.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_11.png" /></figure>

MEANS

## Impact assessment

<figure><img src="image_12.png" /></figure>

SimaPro

Sala et al. 2016
# Life cycle assessment - LCA

## Goal and scope definition

<figure><img src="image_13.png" /></figure>

## Inventory analysis

<figure><img src="image_14.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_15.png" /></figure>

MEANS

Single score: Climate change

Method: Environmental Footprint 3.1

Year: 2021

Cut-off: 1 %

## Impact assessment

<figure><img src="image_16.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_17.png" /></figure>

SimaPro
# Minimum set of input data

1. **C inputs**: crop yields, crop residues management or directly measured C inputs to compute above and belowground C inputs from plants.

2. **Management data**, if available:
   - Soil tillage (depth);
   - Irrigation;
   - Exogenous Organic Matter (EOM) application (type, rate and date);

3. **Soil data** (clay and carbonate contents, pH, SOC content, C:N and bulk density of soil) and depth to compute SOC stocks;

4. **Climatic data** (mean annual temperature, precipitation and evapotranspiration).
# Soil organic carbon evolution - AMG model

<figure><img src="image_18.png" /></figure>

Andriulo et al. 1999, Clivot et al. 2017, Clivot et al. 2019
AMG model

<figure><img src="image_19.png" /></figure>
<figure><img src="image_20.png" /></figure>

The active C pool decomposes according to first-order kinetics with a rate constant k affected by the climate (mean annual water balance and air temperature) and soil characteristics (clay and carbonate contents, pH and C:N ratio of the total SOM) (Clivot et al. 2017)

<figure><img src="image_21.png" /></figure>

Mean residence time (MRT) of active SOC ranging from 7 to 26 years (Clivot et al. 2019).

<figure><img src="image_22.png" /></figure>
# AMG model

## Recalcitrant to mineralization

The initial proportion of QCS in the total SOC is dependent on management history:

Carbon input
(crop residues,
toots & LOM)
Σmᵢ

65% in long-term arable soils
and

40% for long term grassland
history

Saffih-Hdadi and Mary 2008

<figure><img src="image_23.png" /></figure>
# Project stages

1. Business as usual: Which activities are contributing the most for the farm GHG emissions?

<figure><img src="image_24.png" /></figure>

2. Which improvements could be made?

<figure><img src="image_25.png" /></figure>

3. What does it take for these farms to achieve climate neutrality?

<figure><img src="image_26.png" /></figure>
# Project stages

1. Business as usual: Which activities are contributing the most for the farm GHG emissions?

<figure><img src="image_27.png" /></figure>

2. Which improvements could be made?

<figure><img src="image_28.png" /></figure>

3. What does it take for these farms to achieve climate neutrality?

<figure><img src="image_29.png" /></figure>
Business as usual

<figure><img src="image_30.png" /></figure>

ITALY (IT) - Industrial tomato farm 75 ha

UNITED KINGDOM (UK) - Research and educational farm 132 ha
Business as usual

<figure><img src="image_31.png" /></figure>

ITALY (IT) - Industrial tomato farm 75 ha

UNITED KINGDOM (UK) - Research and educational farm 132 ha
Business as usual

ITALY (IT)

<figure><img src="image_32.png" /><figcaption>Tomato</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_33.png" /><figcaption>Silage maize</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_34.png" /><figcaption>Wheat</figcaption></figure>

UNITED KINGDOM (UK)

<figure><img src="image_35.png" /><figcaption>Rapeseed</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_36.png" /><figcaption>Wheat</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_37.png" /><figcaption>Faba beans</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_38.png" /><figcaption>Barley</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_39.png" /></figure>
# Project stages

1. Business as usual: Which activities are contributing the most for the farm GHG emissions?

<figure><img src="image_40.png" /></figure>

2. Which improvements could be made?

<figure><img src="image_41.png" /></figure>

3. What does it take for these farms to achieve climate neutrality?

<figure><img src="image_42.png" /></figure>
# Ecodesign actions

* Based on ClieNFarm and Nestlé's action catalogue + literature review + less complexities in the modeling process

<figure><img src="image_43.png" /></figure>

* Part 1 – **Productivity constrained (PC) scenario**: actions with potential yield impact < than 10% and potentially high GHG emission reduction

<figure><img src="image_44.png" /></figure>

* Part 2 – **Climate Neutral (CN) scenario**: actions can deviate from *status quo* if necessary
Chosen actions – 20 years scenarios

<table><thead><tr><td>Mitigation actions</td><td>Reduce emission Increase sequestration</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1. Applying manure</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2. Cover crop (when it fits in rotation)</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>3. Extend temporary grassland in rotation</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>4. Extend permanent grassland area in farm</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>5. Implementing hedge</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>6. Rewilding (biomass storage, 20 years)</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>7. Photovoltaic - water pump</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>8. 50% less tillage</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>9. Use of 20% less fertilizer</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>10. Feed additives (Bovaer)</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>
Eco-design scenarios – Italy

<table><thead><tr><th>Scenario</th><th>Mitigation actions</th><th>Implementation</th><th>Mitigation potential</th><th>Contribution scenario</th><th>Reference/calculation</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>PC</td><td>Planting 200 m hedge ha<sup>-1</sup></td><td>30</td><td>-1906</td><td>-1876</td><td>Drexler et al. 2020 + own calculation</td></tr><tr><td>PC</td><td>Establishing cover crops</td><td></td><td>-96</td><td>-96</td><td>AMG - mustard (yield: 0.5 t DM)</td></tr><tr><td>PC</td><td>Applying manure</td><td></td><td>-631</td><td>-631</td><td>AMG - replacing N from 20% decrease in min. fertilizer. 6 t of manure for wheat and Maize and 8 t for tomato</td></tr><tr><td>PC</td><td>Decreasing tillage by 50%</td><td></td><td>-139</td><td>-139</td><td>Means + simapro</td></tr><tr><td>PC</td><td>* Fully solar powered irrigation system</td><td>479</td><td>-1136</td><td>-1112</td><td>Todde et al. 2018 + own calculations</td></tr><tr><td>CN</td><td>Use 20% less mineral fertilizer</td><td></td><td>-433</td><td>-433</td><td>Means + simapro</td></tr><tr><td>CN</td><td>Rewild 64% of the land</td><td></td><td>-4758</td><td>-8397</td><td>Mondière et al. 2024</td></tr></tbody></table>

<footnote>* with a Carbon Pay Back Time of 10.5 years, 9.5 years of the 20 year scenario would be of clean renewable energy (assuming no further use of fossil fuel pumps)</footnote>
Eco-design scenarios – Italian case

<figure><img src="image_45.png" /></figure>
Eco-design scenarios – Italian case

<figure><img src="image_46.png" /></figure>
# Eco-design scenarios – Italian case

<figure><img src="image_47.png" /></figure>
Conclusions

* None of the arable farms achieved **climate-neutrality** in the Baseline scenario.

* At the industrial tomato farm (IT), **climate neutrality was not reached under the Productivity constrained** scenario.

* Achieving on-farm climate neutrality would required **additional actions** and **alleviating the productivity constraints**.
Thank you for your attention!
emily.miranda-oliveira@inrae.fr

<figure><img src="image_48.png" /></figure>

Agro-Transfert SIMEOS
Ressources et Territoires AMG

Jean-christophe Mouny

<figure><img src="image_49.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_50.png" /></figure>

UMR -SAS

<figure><img src="image_51.png" /></figure>

SAS

<figure><img src="image_52.png" /><figcaption>Hayo van der Werf</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_53.png" /><figcaption>Julie Auberger</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_54.png" /><figcaption>Michael Corson</figcaption></figure>