Integration between olive cultivation and sheep farming in Brazil: Carbon footprint mitigation potential

Abstract

Two economic activities have been integrated in southern Brazil: olive cultivation and sheep farming. The favorable edaphoclimatic conditions in the southern region for cultivating olive trees and cultural preferences for the consumption of sheep meat make this integration a valuable strategy. Considering that every activity causes environmental impact and the exploitation of natural resources, new systems that promote sustainable development and the efficient use of these resources become necessary. This paper presents the first study of the carbon footprint of the life cycle of integrating of sheep and olive farming, with the objective to build an inventory based on primary data collected on olive and sheep farms in Brazil, determine the carbon footprint of the conventional and integrated system and estimate the potential for mitigating GHG emissions. The evaluation was performed using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The study focuses on the detailed analysis of the processes and activities that are responsible for GHG emissions, including enteric methane emissions, methane emissions from manure management, emissions from nitrogen fertilizer use and limestone application and energy consumption. For this, two major scenarios were considered, the first centered around on the traditional olive cultivation and sheep farming systems individually, and the second involved their synergistic integration. The findings indicate that the conventional system is associated with a global warming impact of 6.8 kg CO2eq per liter olive oil and kg live weight. In contrast, the integrated system demonstrates a significant mitigation potential of 27.7%, resulting in a reduced global warming impact of 4.92 kg CO2eq. This advantage is a consequence of the synergy between the systems, as they now occupy the same area, which allows the sharing of agricultural activities and agrochemical inputs, in addition to optimizing nutrient recycling and complementing each other. Additionally, the results of a sensitivity analysis showed that enteric methane from sheep and the application of limestone to the soil are the most influential parameters on the carbon footprint, indicating that they are key parameters for the development of GHG mitigation strategies, some of which were discussed in the article.