Sankalp Shrivastava, María Gudjónsdóttir and Ólafur Ögmundarson
Introduction: Measuring the environmental sustainability of current agricultural production systems is essential for transitioning to sustainable food systems that can provide Iceland’s population with a healthy and sustainable diet.
Methods and data: This study conducts a life cycle assessment (LCA) of the Icelandic lamb, beef, and dairy production systems. This is a cradle-to-farm gate assessment. The functional unit is 1 kilogram of edible lamb and beef meat, and fat and protein corrected milk (FPCM). The data is compiled using national and farm-level data. The LCA uses the SimaPro 9.5 software, and the ReCiPe 2016 v1.1 midpoint (H) environmental impact assessment method, analyzing 18 environmental categories. However, the results here are presented only for global warming.
Results: The global warming impact for 1 kg of edible lamb meat ranges from 41-53 kg CO2 equivalent. For 1 kg of edible beef meat from dairy cattle the impact ranges from 7-40 kg CO2 equivalent, and specialized beef cattle meat ranges from 43-57 kg CO2 equivalent. Lastly, the impact for 1 kg FPCM milk ranges from 1.5-2 kg CO2 equivalent. Though the direct comparison with other studies is difficult due to different production systems and methodologies, the contributing processes follow a similar trend with feed and animal production, followed by farm activities as hotspots.
Conclusion: The study shed light on challenges with data quality and transparency in Iceland that need to be addressed for future work to measure the sustainability of agricultural systems.
