Abstract
Abstract The aim of this work is to show a calculation procedure for obtaining estimations for the carbon footprint of 1 kg of live weight of ewe, ram and lamb at the farm gate, taking into account regional typological features of agricultural production in agroecosystems. The methodology of carbon footprint (CF) calculation is based on the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology developed for agricultural products. Results revealed that in modern technology of sheep breeding, 21.41 kg CO2 e was emitted on average per kg of body weight of ewe, 19.13 kg CO2 е was emitted on average per kg of body weight of ram, 3.2 kg CO2 e was emitted on average per kg of body weight of lamb. The main distinction of Vojvodina province is the low efficiency of fertiliser application on crop fields and manure management, storage and utilisation, which has as a result high emissions of nitrous oxide. This is the field where the implementation of intensive technologies of precise farming, manure handling, utilisation and management will significantly decrease GHG emission, with preserving yield of crops and quantity and quality of sheep of all categories.
Highlights
Ever-increasing human population represents a major challenge for modern society, and anthropogenic pressure on ever decreasing natural resources is one of the major problems of environmental science
The carbon footprint (CF) represents the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) released during production of unit of some goods or services, represented in kg CO2 equivalent, and it is calculated by multiplying the amount of specific gas with corresponding global warming potential of a given gas (1 for CO2, 23 for CН4 and 296 for N2O) [10]
The aim of this study is to show a calculation procedure for obtaining estimations for the carbon footprint of an agricultural product, namely 1 kg of body weight of ewe, ram and lamb at the farm gate, taking into account regional typological features of agricultural production in agro-ecosystems of Vojvodina province
Summary
Ever-increasing human population represents a major challenge for modern society, and anthropogenic pressure on ever decreasing natural resources is one of the major problems of environmental science. Global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions were increased by 70% between 1970 and 2004, and continue to rise, despite consistent evidence that this increase has caused discernible changes in the global climate since the mid-20th century. Agriculture as such is contributing to the global GHG emission with 16% of total global emission (or 32% if emission from land use change is counted) [1,5,6,7]. The carbon footprint (CF) represents the amount of GHGs released during production of unit of some goods or services, represented in kg CO2 equivalent (kg CO2 e.), and it is calculated by multiplying the amount of specific gas with corresponding global warming potential of a given gas (1 for CO2, 23 for CН4 and 296 for N2O) [10]
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