Abstract
“Démarche de progrès DIESTER®” was an attempt by French farmers, industrialists, technicians, agricultural cooperatives and private grain trading companies to continuously improve the environmental performance of rapeseed biodiesel. The objective was to implement certain rapeseed cultivation operations that had shown their efficiency in previous studies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions: (i) the use of decision support systems (DSS) to calculate nitrogen fertilisation rates, (ii) the cultivation of legumes as intercrops with rapeseed or (iii) as previous crops. This paper first presents an estimate of the potential GHG effects of these cultivation operations, using results from previous studies obtained under experimental conditions or using crop modelling. It then presents the level of adoption by farmers of these cultivation operations in the context of the “Démarche de progrès DIESTER®” initiative to continuously improve the environmental performance of rapeseed biodiesel. Depending on the year, 39 to 74 agricultural cooperatives and grain trading companies were involved in the study, and 90 170 to 283 480 hectares of rapeseed have been monitored. This is the first time in France that an attempt to improve cultivation operations for environmental reasons has been made on such a scale. The average GHG reduction values, compared to fossil fuels, varied from 49.5 to 55.8% depending on the year, which was most often above the 50% minimum reduction value for sustainable biodiesel, but well below the 70% minimum for very low GHG emission biodiesel. Using the results of previous studies, this article shows that the widespread use of decision support systems to calculate mineral N fertilizer rates, and the cultivation of legumes as a preceding crop or intercrop, would make it possible to significantly reduce GHGs and make it possible to produce very low GHG-emitting biodiesel in certain locations and/or years. However, the actual changes in cultural operations were too small to be effective. The reasons for this lack of impact and how to achieve results in the future are discussed in this article.
Highlights
The European Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (Directive 2009/28/EC) aims both at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, in order to contribute to compliance with the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and at reducing the transport sector’s dependence on oil imports
The results suggest that the production of very low GHGemitting rapeseed biodiesel is possible in France in certain locations and/or years if improved cultivation operations are adopted
SAIPOL’s objective was to stimulate innovations in cultivation operations to reduce GHG emissions in rapeseed, both by communicating on this issue to motivate the cooperatives/companies and by offering the possibility to have a monitoring of GHG emissions and suggestions for improvement
Summary
The European Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (Directive 2009/28/EC) aims both at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, in order to contribute to compliance with the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and at reducing the transport sector’s dependence on oil imports This European directive stipulates that the production of biofuels must meet sustainability criteria. GHG emissions from the cultivation of agricultural raw materials were calculated in areas classified at level 2 of the nomenclature of territorial units (NUTS2), which is the regional level in France In this country, all rapeseed NUTS2 values were less than or equal to 29 g of CO2 equivalent MJÀ1, except in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. It appeared necessary to reduce GHG emissions from rapeseed cultivation in France
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