Modelling the environmental impacts of Swiss mixed agroforestry systems

Summary

Farming systems are under increasing environmental pressure due to the climate and biodiversity crisis. In this context mixed agroforestry systems are suggested as potential solutions to increase circularity of nutrient flows and productivity of the land used for agriculture, while at the same time storing carbon in biomass and soils to mitigate climate impacts. Few studies have assessed the environmental performance of mixed agroforestry systems within European farms and models for doing so are scarce. In this study, a life cycle assessment (LCA) model “FarmLCA” (De Baan et al., 2024) was further developed to include agroforestry and reflect the most recent methodologies for estimating carbon sequestration in soil and biomass. Here we present these developments and their applicability on Swiss agroforestry farms, co-producing fruits, milk, meat and other crops.