Support Theme: Environmental and agronomic analysis

Support Theme leader: Dr Marcel Toonen

Desk researchers: Dr Elma Salentijn

See the publications section for reports and presentations from this theme.

Summary

The introduction of non-food crops with novel traits into Europe will need to be considered for various topics. The issues will be specific for the crop, the application and the geographical regions of cultivation and these wider perspectives will be integrated into the planning of the new RTD challenges as they are defined and developed for each Flagship area. The environment/agronomy Support Theme provides a framework to analyse the crop-product combinations defined in the three Flagship themes (biopolymers, cell walls, plant oils) with relation to the following topics:

• Breeding and agronomy of non-food crops as a feedstock for bio-based products
• Risk/benefit analysis of introduced novel traits
• Environmental impact of the cultivation of non-food crops and the production and disposal of bio-based products

Environmental assessment of the production of bio-based feedstock with respect to cultivation and processing of the crop and production and disposal of the bio-based products will have to consider the following points:

1. Global warming potential
2. Acidification potential
3. Ozone depleting potential
4. Photochemical ozone creation potential
5. Eutrophication potential
6. Aquatic oxygen demand
7. Occupational health impacts

In more detail these seven areas can be related to the following inputs and emissions:

• Energy use in all stages of the production (gasoline, diesel, electricity etc.)
• Fertiliser use (nitrogen, phosphorous etc.)
• Crop protection (insecticides)
• Weed management (mechanical, herbicides)
• The use of preservatives during storage (e.g. rodenticide, fumigants)
• The use of water for irrigation and processing
• The use of non-renewable chemicals during processing
• The environmental impact of emissions (greenhouse gases, biological oxygen demand (BOD) etc.)
• The environmental impact of disposal (biodegradation, recycling, incineration with or without energy recovery, etc.)
• Sensitivity analysis (e.g. variation in crop yield)
• Others

The work will be carried out in close collaboration with the Support Theme concerning the economic potential of the defined crop-product combinations. This will ensure the Flagships reflect the need to achieve biosustainability and offer environmental benefits in addition to those for the economy, industry and the consumer.