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Diagnostic tools used
An important prerequisite for the environmental diagnosis of the farm is the meticulous choice of appropriate tools enabling the assessment of the system’s performances, in terms of energy consumption and greenhouse gaz emissions. This choice of diagnostic tools was accompanied in Grignon by the creation of complementary and original tools :
the GE+ dashboard, dedicated to the monitoring and the management of the farm impacts,
PerfAgro P3, conceived for the exploration and the choice of new orientations for the farm.
1. Goals of the tool search
The tool search aimed at establishing a referential of indicators which could then be used to :
make the initial diagnosis of Grignon farm : identification of the most impacting activities in terms of energy consumption and greenhouse gaz emissions
do the monitoring of the evolutions entailed by the changes in practices (for more information, read here)
2. Choice criteria for the diagnostic tools
The choice of appropriate diagnostic tools for Grignon farm is based on the following criteria :
the tools used must enable the analysis of the maximum of environmental impacts, of the maximum of subdivisions of the farm. At the same time they have to express precisely laws of response or conversion factors.
the tools have to comprise criteria of economic performance.
they have to be sensitive to any change in cropping or breeding practices.
the analysis has to enable the easy attribution to each activity of its particular environmental impact (for example : energetical impact of wheat production)
the tools have to be widely recognized by scientists.
they have to be easy and quick to use.
3. Selected diagnostic tools
A set of 4 tools were selected :
| Planète (Solagro) | This tool is used for the diagnosis of energy and greenhouse gas impacts of agricultural activities only. Planète enables the assessment of the financial costs associated to direct and indirect consumption of fossil energy. |
|---|---|
| Dialecte (Solagro), completed by Aquasite and Aqualea (Arvalis) | These tools are used to complete the environmental assessment. They take into account water, soil, biodiversity, use of non renewable resources, risks of punctual and diffuse pollutions. |
| The GE+ dashboard | This monitoring tool, conceived by the GE+ team, takes into account a set of technical references relative to energy and greenhouse gas « costs » of farm activities. Data about material and energy flows are taken into account as well. The application enables the diagnosis of the environmental performance of the farm as a whole (non agricultural activities included). |
| PerfAgroP3 | This decision support tool, developed by the Céréopa, is used to model 3 types of impacts of new techniques : the economic margin (« Profit »), the energy consumptions and the greenhouse gas emissions (« Planet ») and the capacity of the farm to produce food for human beings (« People »). |
4. Examples of uses of the tools for technical choices
The graph below illustrates modellings of the impact on energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and economic margin in 2007 of different technical options that are applicable to the farm. These options are the following : simplified tilling, introduction of new crops, making and use of pure vegetable oil*, use of nitrification inhibitors and manure composting. This study enabled the selection of techniques allowing an important decrease in energy consumption and in greenhouse gas emissions without compromising the economic profitability of the farm :
| Simplified tilling | 23.1% of the fields under simplified tilling in 2007 versus 6.1% in 2005 and 2006 |
|---|---|
| New crops | Increase of total area in alfalfa (+20ha) and meadow (+30ha) and introduction of triticale (5 ha) and hard wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp durum) (15ha) |
* Pure vegetable oil : also known as straight vegetable oil (SVO) or pure plant oil (PPO). It is obtained by the mechanical pressing of rape seeds and can be used as automotive fuel in adapted diesel engines.
Besides, thanks to the exploration tool PerfAgro, we have studied the impacts of the introduction of miscanthus in the crop rotation (see illustration).
These results led us to the test plantation of 2ha of miscanthus in 2008, in order to assess the environmental performance of the crop.
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