4364: Organic cash crop farms as net energy producers: Energy balances and environmental effects

Halberg, Niels; Dalgaard, R.; Berntsen, J.; Olesen, J.E. and Dalgaard, T. (2005) Organic cash crop farms as net energy producers: Energy balances and environmental effects. Paper presented at Researching Sustainable Systems - International Scientific Conference on Organic Agriculture, Adelaide, Australia, September 21-23, 2005.

Full text available as:
Source file (Paper) - [Depositor and staff only] - May require special text editors or viewers

Summary

Organic farming (OF) principles include the idea of reducing dependence on fossil fuels, but little has been achieved on this objective so far in Danish OF. Energy use and greenhouse gas emissions from an average 39 ha cash crop farm were calculated and alternative crop rotations for bio-energy production were modelled. Growing rapeseed on 10% of the land could produce bio-diesel to replace 50-60% of the tractor diesel used on the farm. Increasing Grass-clover area to 20% of the land and using half of this yield for biogas production could change the cash crop farm to a net energy producer, reduce green house gas emissions and improve the nutrient management on the farm while reducing overall output of products only marginally.

Document Language:	English
Keywords:	Biogas, Energy, life cycle assessment, greenhouse gas, rapeseed, crop rotation
Subject Areas:	Food systems > Recycling, balancing and resource management
Research affiliation:	International Conferences > ISOFAR conferences > Researching Sustainable Systems 2005
Total budget (Euro):	0
Orgprints ID Number:	4364
Contact:	ISOFAR,
Deposited On:	03 November 2005
EPrint Type:	Conference paper
Published?:	Unpublished
Peer Review Status:	Peer-reviewed and accepted
Additional Publishing Information:	The paper presented here is the final paper submitted by the authors to the conference Researching Sustainable Systems. The final edited papers are available with the following publication: Köpke, Ulrich; Niggli, Urs; Neuhoff, Daniel; Cornish, Peter; Lockeretz, Willie und Willer, Helga, (Hrsg.) (2005) Researching Sustainable Systems. Proceedings of the First Scientific Conference of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR), Held in Cooperation with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and the National Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Australia (NASAA), 21 – 23 September 2005, Adelaide Convention Centre, Adelaide, South Australia.. Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, CH-Frick, and International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR), c/o Institute of Organic Agriculture (IOL), DE-University of Bonn. http://orgprints.org/4013/ Distribution: Paper copies may be ordered from FiBL at a cost of 28 Euros plus mailing costs (see FiBL shop at http://www.fibl.org/shop); FiBL order number 1394. A PDF version is available free of charge for ISOFAR members via the member area of www.isofar.org.
Related Links:	http://orgprints.org/4013/, http://www.isofar.org/adelaide2005, http://orgprints.org/view/projects/int-conf-isofar-2005.html

Archive Staff Only: edit this record