Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment

The emissions of greenhouse gases produced during growing and processing of wheat products in the Czech Republic 

Author(s):

Jan Moudrý jr. *, Zuzana Jelínková, Radek Plch, Jan Moudrý, Petr Konvalina, Robin Hyšpler

Recieved Date: 2012-10-20, Accepted Date: 2013-01-30

Abstract:

This work based on a simplified life cycle assessment (hereinafter referred to as LCA) and conversion of emission production within particular farming and processing operations, evaluates the amount of greenhouse gases emission expressed in carbon dioxide equivalent (hereinafter referred to as CO₂e) released when cultivating, processing and transporting wheat under conditions of the conventional and organic farming system. The basic data for calculations was obtained using a questionnaire survey supplemented from the Ecoinvent database. The results were calculated using the LCA method in compliance with requirements of CSN EN ISO 14 040 ⁹ and CSN EN ISO 14 044 ¹⁰ standards. The life cycle of grain products, consisting of three connected processes - agriculture, processing  and transport, was modelled in the SIMA Pro software. Besides the comparison of conventional and organic farming systems, also the influence of the regionality of production was evaluated when  two basic distances for calculations were determined. The distance of 50 km was considered as the regional one and the distance of 400 km was considered as supra-regional. Based on the achieved results it is evident, that the environmental load is affected by the farming system applied and observance of the principles of regional activity as well. The main difference arises from the agricultural phase when the conventional farming system shows 0.5581 CO₂e per kg of wheat and the organic farming system 0.4624 CO₂e per kg of wheat. Other emission arises from transport when within the supra-regional transport of one kg of the final product 0.1094 kg of CO2e is released. The processing has also significant influence on the CO₂ release when, within current processes and production volumes, the bread processing produces more CO₂e emissions in the organic system than in the conventional one. 

Keywords:

Organic farming, conventional farming, wheat, greenhouse gases, LCA, processing, transport

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Journal: Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment
Year: 2013
Volume: 11
Issue: 1
Category: Environment
Pages: 1133-1136

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