Life Cycle Assessment in the Agri-food Sector

Abstract

Agriculture and the food sector are responsible for a large share of the environmental impacts and resource use caused by human activity. For certain environmental issues such as the conservation of biodiversity, agriculture is the key driver. For about 15 years now, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method has successfully been used to analyse agricultural production systems and food chains. During the five previous conferences held in Belgium, Sweden and Denmark, the scientific community discussed LCA topics in the Agri-Food Sector. The 6th International Conference on LCA in the Agri- Food Sector was organised in Zurich on 12-14 November 2008, with the following objectives: to show recent developments in terms of methodology, approaches, databases and tools; to present applications of the LCA methodology in new case studies or case studies showing new aspects in various food chains; to present successful examples of communication of LCA results to stakeholders and their use in decision making.