Environmental impact assessment of beef production in a semi-intensive in Paraguay
Contributo in Atti di convegno
Data di Pubblicazione:
2020
Citazione:
Environmental impact assessment of beef production in a semi-intensive in Paraguay / M. Costantini, D. Lovarelli, I. Vázquez-Rowe, J. Bacenetti - In: Towards sustainable agri-food systems / [a cura di] U. Eberle, S. Smetana, U. Bos. - Berlin : LCAFOOD, 2020. - ISBN 9783000676048. - pp. 49-53 (( Intervento presentato al 12. convegno International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment of Food tenutosi a Berlin nel 2020.
Abstract:
A Paraguayan cattle farm was evaluated to explore the environmental performance of beef production in a semi-intensive system. The LCA method was applied with a “cradle-to-farm gate” perspective and 1 kg of Live Weight as the functional unit selected. Primary data referring to cropping and livestock systems’ inputs and outputs for the three-years from 2016 to 2018 were collected on site. Twelve different impact categories were evaluated. Cattle farming confirmed to be responsible for intensive GHG emissions (24.8 kg CO2 eq/kg LW), especially when it occurs predominantly on pasture. A trade-off has been identified between impact categories strongly affected by animal-related emissions (including climate change, acidification potential and eutrophication), occurring mostly on pasture, and others (toxicity-related categories, ozone and resources depletion) by feed production, despite its limited inclusion in the overall rearing cycle, almost exclusively during the finishing feedlot phase.
Tipologia IRIS:
03 - Contributo in volume
Keywords:
beef cattle; Paraguay; life cycle assessment; grazing systems
Elenco autori:
M. Costantini, D. Lovarelli, I. Vázquez-Rowe, J. Bacenetti
Link alla scheda completa:
Titolo del libro:
Towards sustainable agri-food systems