Inge Toft Kristensen

Regional greenhouse gas emissions from cultivation of winter wheat and winter rapeseed for biofuels in Denmark

Abstract Biofuels from bioenergy crops may substitute a significant part of fossil fuels in the transport sector where, e.g., the European Union has set a target of using 10% renewable energy by 2020. Savings of greenhouse gas emissions by biofuels vary according to cropping systems and are influenced by such regional factors as soil conditions, climate and input of agrochemicals. Here we analysed at a regional scale the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with cultivation of winter wheat for bioethanol and winter rapeseed for rapeseed methyl ester (RME) under Danish conditions. Emitted CO2 equivalents (CO2eq) were quantified from the footprints of CO2, CH4 and N2O associated with cultivation and the emissions were allocated between biofuel energy and co-products. Greenhouse gas emission at the national level (Denmark) was estimated to 22.1 g CO2eq MJ−1 ethanol for winter wheat and 26.0 g CO2eq MJ−1 RME for winter rapeseed. Results at the regional level (level 2 according to the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics [NUTS]) ranged from 20.0 to 23.9 g CO2eq MJ−1 ethanol and from 23.5 to 27.6 g CO2eq MJ−1 RME. Thus, at the regional level emission results varied by up to 20%. Differences in area-based emissions were only 4% reflecting the importance of regional variation in yields for the emission result. Fertilizer nitrogen production and direct emissions of soil N2O were major contributors to the final emission result and sensitivity analyses showed that the emission result depended to a large extent on the uncertainty ranges assumed for soil N2O emissions. Improvement of greenhouse gas balances could be pursued, e.g., by growing dedicated varieties for energy purposes. However, in a wider perspective, land-use change of native ecosystems to bioenergy cropping systems could compromise the CO2 savings of bioenergy production and challenge the targets set for biofuel production.

Determining The Geographical Variation In Danish Farming

Change in agricultural structure may have impact on employment in rural areas, environment, wildlife and landscape. Normally Administrative units have been used in describing the agricultural structure. T h s article describes a method to determine the geographical variation in agricultural structures from single farm data and shows how this knowledge can be used in determining the correlation between local structure variables and trends in farm development. In Denmark information about all farms are registered together with address coordinates. Through GIS and geo-statistical analyses the observations are generalised to maps showing the geographical variation of e.g. mean farm size, mean live stock hold or number of animal pr. acre. Comparing information for several years gives the opportunity to classify farms after their owners behaviour. By point inspection, information of the behaviour is related to the local structure variables and a potential correlation between these is analysed.

Farm profitability and structural challenges – geographical patterns in the Danish agricultural economy

The objective of the paper is to demonstrate a methodology to establish data for analysing the geographical patterns in the economic performance of farms. The methodology combines population-based agricultural register data on physical activity levels with sample-based farm economic accounts data. Using a least-squares approach, the method estimates economic figures for each farm in the population conditional on farm size, land allocation and number of different types of livestock. The method is used for describing the spatial patterns in economic returns to agriculture, using Denmark as an illustrative example. Economic contribution/hectare is relatively stronger in western parts of the country. This is associated with high livestock density in these areas, but the high livestock density also poses future economic challenges to farms in these areas to a higher extent than in the rest of Denmark.

A comparison of disaggregated nitrogen budgets for Danish agriculture using Europe-wide and national approaches

Spatially detailed information on agricultural nitrogen (N) budgets is relevant to identify regions where there is a need for a reduction in inputs in view of various forms of N pollution. However, at the scale of the European Union, there is a lack of consistent, reliable, high spatial resolution data necessary for the calculation of regional N losses. To gain insight in the reduction in uncertainty achieved by using higher spatial resolution input data. This was done by comparing spatially disaggregated agricultural N budgets for Denmark for the period 2000-2010, generated by two versions of the European scale model Integrator, a version using high spatial resolution national data for Denmark (Integrator-DK) and a version using available data at the EU scale (Integrator-EU). Results showed that the national N fluxes in the N budgets calculated by the two versions of the model were within 1-5% for N inputs by fertilizer and manure excretion, but inputs by N fixation and N mineralisation differed by 50-100% and N uptake also differed by ca 25%, causing a difference in N leaching and runoff of nearly 50%. Comparison with an independently derived Danish national budget appeared generally to be better with Integrator-EU results in 2000 but with Integrator-DK results in 2010. However, the spatial distribution of manure distribution and N losses from Integrator-DK were closer to observed distributions than those from Integrator-EU. We conclude that close attention to local agronomic practices is needed when using a leaching fraction approach and that for effective support of environmental policymaking, Member States need to collect or submit high spatial resolution agricultural data to Eurostat.