Environmental Profiles of Farm Types in Switzerland Based on LCA

Abstract

The goal of the study was to assess the environmental impacts of a network of Swiss farms consisting of farms of different types, production regions and farming systems in order to analyse the environmental profile per farm type. Agronomic, technical and economic data of 105 Swiss farms have been collected for the year 2008. We identified three types of environmental profiles subject to the analysed functional units: i) a rather favourable environmental profile, e.g. 'combined suckler cows'; ii) a profile with favourable impacts regarding the function of land cultivation, but unfavourable for the productive and financial function, e.g. 'other cattle'; and iii) a profile with favourable impacts for the productive function, but unfavourable for the financial function and the function of land management, e.g. 'combined pigs/poultry'. In conclusion, we found that an environmental optimisation over three functions is challenging as areas of conflicts are present, especially between conserving land management and high productive output