8 - Energy Inputs and Outputs in Agricultural Operations

Abstract

The input of machinery, fuels, pesticides, and fertilizers causes farming to depend heavily on energy. This creates a continued effort to find ways to reduce inputs by applying new technologies and methods capable of reducing, for example, direct fossil energy consumption. However, it is important to consider not only the direct energy consumption but also the interrelated energy efficiency involving both direct and indirect energy. Indirect energy is associated with the production and distribution of inputs like fertilizers, seeds, machinery, and pesticides. Securing agricultural production methods with maximum net energy productivity and minimized impact is a key issue in future farming, especially in intensive cropping systems. Hence estimations including direct as well as indirect energy use are required when elaborating on energy use and energy efficiency in alternative agricultural production systems, to avoid suboptimization and incorrect recommendations on technology use in farming operations. Such complex relations throughout the product chain, across crop rotation, and between different environmental impacts call for a dedicated modeling approaches and methodologies, such as the use of life-cycle assessment (LCA).