Energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in organic and conventional grain crop production: Accounting for nutrient inflows
Type de document
journalArticle
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Titre
Energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in organic and conventional grain crop production: Accounting for nutrient inflows
Titre français
Titre anglais
Auteur(s)
- HOFFMAN Eric
- CAVIGELLI Michel A.
- CAMARGO Gustavo
- RYAN Matthew
- ACKROYD Victoria J.
- RICHARD Tom L.
- MIRSKY Steven
Editeur(s)
Autre(s)
Id
PVHUJND3
Version
2792
Date ajout
12 mars 2021 19:55
Date modification
16 mars 2021 17:55
Résumé
Agriculture is a large source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and has large energy requirements. Previous research has shown that organic farming and conservation tillage practices can reduce environmental impacts from agriculture. We used the Farm Energy Analysis Tool (FEAT) to quantify the energy use and GHG emissions on area (ha) and crop yield (kg crop) bases for five cropping systems that comprise the Farming Systems Project (FSP) at the USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland, US. The FSP consists of five grain cropping systems that mimic those used in the mid-Atlantic region of the US: 1) a 3-year conventional no-till corn (Zea mays L.)–soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr)–wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)/soybean rotation (NT), 2) a 3-year conventional chisel-till corn–soybean–wheat/soybean rotation (CT), 3) a 2-year organic corn–soybean rotation (Org2), 4) a 3-year organic corn–soybean–wheat rotation (Org3), and 5) a 6-year organic corn–soybean–wheat–alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) rotation (Org6). We accounted for nutrient inflows into organic systems by using a mass-energy allocation method, which accounts for the total energy and GHG emissions from the original production of nutrients found in poultry litter through synthetic fertilizer production (N) and nutrient mining (P and K). We believe this is the first attempt to quantify energy use and GHG emissions from nutrients applied in organic systems that originated through industrial processes used in conventional agriculture. Energy use was greatest in the conventional systems when expressed on a per area basis, with energy costs of producing synthetic N fertilizer accounting for 45 to 46% of total energy use. When expressed per unit of crop yield, energy use was greatest in Org2, lowest in Org6, and similar in Org3, NT and CT. Energy use decreased with increasing crop rotation length and complexity among organic systems whether expressed on an area or yield basis. Greenhouse gas emissions were higher in the Org2 and Org3 systems than in the conventional systems and were lowest in Org6 whether expressed on an area or yield basis. Our results indicate that organic management consistently had lower energy use than conventional management on an area basis, but not when expressed on a crop yield basis. Of particular interest is that diversifying grain cropping systems to include perennials was a more effective management strategy than organic management per se to reduce energy use and GHG emissions in agriculture.
Note
None
CRAW tags
- AB - Modalité bio
- FREDO machine, bâtiment et infrastructure
- FREDO performance énergétique
- GEO Etats-Unis
- serre
- énergie
WEB tags
- cover crops
- crop rotation
- energy use
- greenhouse gas emissions
- life cycle analysis
Titre de la publication
Agricultural Systems
Volume
162
Pages
89-96
Date caractères
May 1, 2018
Date publication
1 mai 2018
Doi
10.1016/j.agsy.2018.01.021
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Issn
0308-521X
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