Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
example of this is that the fertility is maintained by the use of green manures.
The only fertility building input comes from woodchips composted on the
farm and small amounts of lime and vermiculite, which are used to produce
potting compost for the on-farm production of seedlings. All seed is pur-
chased except for 30% of the seed potatoes, which are farm saved.
1.2.2 DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
The distribution is done by weekly round-trips of 70 km, where multiple bags
are delivered to neighborhood representatives. Other customers may then
come to the representatives' collection points to collect the bags. Customers
are encouraged to collect the bag on foot or on bike, and the bags are designed
to make this easier (i.e., a wooden box is more difficult to carry). Potential
customers are rejected if they live in a location from where they would need to
drive by car to pick up their bags, even though they offer to pick up the bags
themselves and pay the same price. The neighborhood representatives have
some administrative tasks and are paid by getting boxes for free.
1.3 ASSESSMENT METHODS—EMERGY AND LCA
The system boundary in this study is the farm and its distribution system.
Cooking, consumption, human excretion and wastewater treatment are
excluded from the scope of the analysis. The functional unit, which de-
fines the service that is provided, is baskets of vegetables produced during
one year and delivered at consumer's door as average of the years 2009
and 2010. Resource consumption and environmental impacts associated
with consumers' transport is included except for transport by foot or bike,
which was assumed negligible.
1.3.1 EMERGY ACCOUNTING
Emergy accounting quantifies direct input of energy and materials to the
system and multiplies these with suitable conversion factors for the solar
 
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