Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
order to replace diesel from fossil resources, then a certain amount of land
must be cultivated with rape seed. If the RME were not to be produced,
then this area could be used for cereal production. Thus an imbalance
would arise: if RME is produced, fuel is produced but no cereal, whereas in
the alternative case, fuel is also produced (from fossil resources), but in
addition to this, cereals are produced. These two systems could therefore
not be meaningfully compared in order to assess the actual environmental
effects that would arise (since the 'functional unit' would be different).
If on the other hand the rape seed were grown on fallow set-aside
land, then in both cases fuel only would be produced and therefore a
meaningful comparison would be possible. Thus, fallow set-aside land
would be a valid reference system. In the case of cereal production as an
alternative land use, the question would become more complex, because it
would be necessary to define where the cereals would come from if rape
seed was produced. Furthermore, it would then be necessary to ask, where
the product (if any) would be produced which the cereals would 'replace'
and so on. Thus, a chain of land use changes could arise that may in theory
be very long and complex.
In the example given in Figure 8.2, rape seed is grown instead of
maize, while the maize is produced in South America where rain forest is
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