Reference Values for the Environmental Impacts of Eight Swiss Foods at a Glance
Agroscope researchers have developed and applied a method for determining reference values for the environmental impacts of eight frequently consumed foods produced in Switzerland. The results are published and freely available.
Reference values highlighting the environmental impacts of products are useful for food production, the retail trade and policy-makers. Agroscope researchers have established a process for calculating these reference values and made them publicly available for Swiss apples, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, winter wheat, sunflower oil, milk and pork.
Objective comparisons are possible
The reference values are not direct targets, but rather an objective basis for comparisons. Examples: a farm wishing to produce more-eco-friendly apples starts by calculating its own life cycle assessment and compares this to the reference values. This makes it clear whether the product lies above or below the Swiss average, and where improvements are possible. Furthermore, retailers can use the reference values as a basis for defining their own reduction targets (e.g. 10% below the reference value) or for evaluating product ranges. Policy-makers can, for example, use reference values to compare imports with Swiss products. Of course, care must be taken to use a consistent methodology here.
Selected results
The following results of the calculations are particularly important:
- Direct emissions from agriculture contribute to species loss potential due to land use, to freshwater ecotoxicity from organic compounds (through the use of plant-protection products), to greenhouse gas emissions and to terrestrial acidification (mainly due to ammonia from fertiliser application).
- Inorganic fertilisers in conventional production particularly influence terrestrial acidification, inorganic freshwater ecotoxicity, freshwater eutrophication and global warming potential.
- Lower yields often lead to higher environmental impacts per kg of product (e.g. organic production or production in the mountain zone).
- For pork and milk, the choice of feed is crucial for reducing environmental impacts.
- The processing into oil has a negligible influence on the environmental impacts of sunflower oil production.
- Owing to the energy requirement and refrigerants, the storage of apples, potatoes and carrots increases greenhouse gas emissions by between 30 and 40% per month.