The assessment of biodiversity within UK farming
systems using an extended LCA ecosystem approach
Catherine Keeling & Rob Lillywhite, University of Warwick, Wellesbourne, Warwick
Background
Results
In 2009, the UK Government commissioned a project to
develop a methodology to assess the sustainability of UK
farming systems
The grass-based, low intensity systems obtained the
highest scores, whilst the highly intensive housed livestock
systems scored lowest
• 32 farming systems were identified to represent the
diversity of UK agriculture
More detailed analysis included:
• Examining differences within production systems, for
example milk production (Figure 1)
• 40 indicators were selected to cover a wide range of
economic, environmental and social parameters
• Comparing organic systems with their conventional
counterparts (Figure 2)
The project’s overall approach is described as an extended
LCA ecosystem approach model. The methodology combines:
• Newly developed economic and social matrices,
informed by the UK’s Farm Business Survey (Defra,
2009) and farm surveys
This poster reports on the inclusion of an aggregated
biodiversity indicator into the methodology
35%
30%
Mean species abundance
• A development of the existing Cranfield LCA model
(Williams et al., 2006)
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
High yield*
(conv.)
(134)
Representing biodiversity
Meta-analyses have investigated the dose-effect
relationships between pressure factors and biodiversity in
agricultural landscapes (Reidsma et al., 2006; Alkemade et
al., 2009), allowing mean species abundance (relative to
the undisturbed situation) to be estimated
Methodology
The Farm Business Survey contains data on land-use
composition (tillage, grassland, rough grazing and
woodland) and input intensity (spend on fertiliser and crop
protection)
The meta-analyses were used to assign a value for mean
species abundance (MSA) to each combination of land-use
type, input intensity level, and type of management
(organic or conventional)
Whole farm MSA scores were obtained by the summation
of the weighted values (according to the proportion of the
total farm area occupied). Median MSA scores were then
calculated for each of the project farming systems
Alkemade, R., van Oorschot, M., Miles., L. Nellemann, C., Bakkenes, M., ten Brink, B., 2009. GLOBIO3: A framework to investigate
options for reducing global terrestrial biodiversity loss. Ecosystems 12, 374-390.
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), 2009. The Farm Business Survey. Defra, London.
Jeanneret, P., Baumgartner, D. U., Freiermuth Knuchel, R., Gaillard, G., 2008. A new LCIA method for assessing impacts of
agricultural activities on biodiversity (SALCA-Biodiversity). 6th International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment in the Agri-Food
Sector 2008, Proceedings, 34-39.
Reidsma, P., Tekelenburg, T., van den Berg., M., Alkemade, R., 2006. Impacts of land-use change on biodiversity: an assessment
of agricultural biodiversity in the European Union. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 114, 86-102.
Willams, A.G., Audsley, E., Sandars, D.L. 2006. Determining the environmental burdens and resource use in the production of
agricultural and horticultural commodities. Final report for Defra project IS0205. Cranfield University, Bedford and Defra, London.
Rob Lillywhite
Low yield
(conv.)
(134)
Low yield
(organic)
(22)
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
conv. organic conv. organic conv. organic conv. organic conv. organic
(158)
(7)
(356)
(17)
(136)
(22)
(250)
(33)
(165)
(9)
Horticulture
Cereals
Milk
(medium yield)
Beef & sheep
(lowland)
Sheep
Figure 2. A comparison of organic and conventional systems
* Yield refers to mean milk production per cow
Error bars depict median absolute deviation
Values in parentheses are the number of farms in the sample
Conclusions
The indicator can successfully differentiate between and
within production systems, but more work on sensitivity
analysis is required, particularly regarding the financial
values selected as thresholds between intensity levels
Further applications could include investigating the effects
of management intensification and land-use change, such
as the conversion of grassland into arable production
Warwick Crop Centre
Catherine Keeling
Medium yield
(organic)
(22)
Figure 1. Biodiversity and milk production
Mean species abundance
Single indicator species groups such as birds or beetles may
be used, but effects of management practices have been
shown to be species specific (Jeanneret et al., 2008)
Medium yield
(conv.)
(136)
www.warwick.ac.uk/go/wcc