Purpose

The environmental and economic impacts of livestock production systems are typically assessed using global characterisation factors and data, even though several impact categories call for site-specific assessments. Here, we account for spatial variability by addressing potential interactions between geographic locality and the cost-effectiveness of farm investments that aim to reduce system environmental impact, using Danish pig production as a case-in-point.

Methods

An LCA-based, spatially explicit environmental abatement cost framework was developed to assess the cost-effectiveness of potential environmental abatement strategies. The framework was tested for Danish pig production in a “4 manure management × 4 geographic location” scenario analysis design. In addition to the baseline, the alternative manure management strategies were on-farm anaerobic digestion, slurry acidification and screw press slurry separation, implemented in an integrated pig farming system. The geographic locations differed in their proximity to Natura 2000 areas and in pig farming density. Eight different impact categories were assessed through an LCA using spatially explicit characterisation factors whenever possible, and annualised abatement potential was estimated for each manure management scenario and in each geographic location. We also estimated the financial performance for each scenario, through a discounted cash flow analysis at a whole-farm level.

Results and discussion

We observed significant interactions between geographic location and system environmental and economic performance under baseline conditions. Significant location effects were also observed for the cost-effectiveness of all manure management strategies tested. Anaerobic digestion was the only “win–win” strategy that increased farm profits while reducing system environmental impact in two of the geographic cases: when implemented in a region of high pig farming density located near Natura 2000 and when implemented in a region of high pig farming density located far from Natura 2000 areas. Slurry acidification and slurry separation achieved sizeable abatement potential for impacts on ecosystem quality but incurred large additional costs in all geographic case studies considered, particularly when arable land was limited near the pig farm.

Conclusions

Accounting for basic spatial characteristics within an environmental abatement cost framework had significant impact on the cost-effectiveness of on-farm investments for mitigation of system environmental impact. To the best of our knowledge, no studies to date have utilised such spatial characteristics within environmental abatement cost modelling of livestock farming systems. The presented framework has the potential to be further expanded using more detailed spatial, economic and geophysical data, which could ultimately improve decision-making regarding cost-effective investments that aim to improve the sustainability of livestock farming operations.

中文翻译：

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在环境影响减轻措施的生命周期成本效益评估中考虑空间变异性

目的

畜牧生产系统的环境和经济影响通常使用全球特征因素和数据进行评估，尽管有几个影响类别需要针对特定​​地点的评估。在这里，我们通过解决地理区域与旨在减少系统环境影响的农场投资的成本效益之间的潜在相互作用来解释空间可变性，以丹麦养猪生产为例。

方法

开发了一个基于 LCA、空间明确的环境减排成本框架，以评估潜在环境减排战略的成本效益。该框架在“4 粪肥管理 × 4 地理位置”情景分析设计中针对丹麦养猪生产进行了测试。除了基线之外，替代的粪便管理策略是农场厌氧消化、浆液酸化和螺旋压榨浆液分离，在综合养猪系统中实施。地理位置在靠近 Natura 2000 地区和养猪密度方面有所不同。尽可能使用空间明确的特征因子通过 LCA 评估八个不同的影响类别，并估计每个粪便管理方案和每个地理位置的年度减排潜力。

结果和讨论

我们观察到在基线条件下地理位置与系统环境和经济性能之间存在显着的相互作用。对于所有测试的粪便管理策略的成本效益，还观察到显着的位置效应。厌氧消化是唯一的“双赢””在两种地理情况下增加农场利润同时减少系统环境影响的策略：在靠近 Natura 2000 的高养猪密度地区实施时，以及在远离 Natura 2000 地区的高养猪密度地区实施时。泥浆酸化和泥浆分离实现了对生态系统质量影响的相当大的减排潜力，但在考虑的所有地理案例研究中都产生了大量额外成本，特别是当猪场附近的耕地有限时。

结论

在环境减排成本框架内考虑基本空间特征对减轻系统环境影响的农场投资的成本效益有重大影响。据我们所知，迄今为止，还没有研究在畜牧养殖系统的环境减排成本模型中利用这种空间特征。所提出的框架有可能使用更详细的空间、经济和地球物理数据进一步扩展，最终可以改善有关旨在提高畜牧业运营可持续性的成本效益投资的决策。