1- For the field "Destination or stage of the product", what do the terms "from the production site", "at the production site", "on the farm" proposed by the drop-down menu represent?
Some contextual elements The notion of "product destination or stage" is used in LCA in the name of life cycle inventories. It is used to specify the perimeter of the system represented by the inventory. In agricultural LCA, a perimeter classically used is "from the cradle to the farm gate", which means that all the stages of the life cycle upstream of the farm (production of inputs) and production on the farm are taken into account, but that the rest of the life cycle of the agricultural product (transport, processing, distribution, etc.) is not taken into account. In the name of an inventory, the destination or stage of the product "at the farm gate" indicates that the "cradle to farm gate" perimeter is taken into account.
Meaning of the terms "exit production site", "at the production site", "at the farm".
MEANS-InOut allows a wide range of productions to be represented: annual or perennial plant productions, in the field or in the greenhouse, animal productions, aquaculture productions. The term "production site" can be used for products that are not "strictly" agricultural, such as ornamental shrubs, roses, etc.
The terms "On site", "On farm" apply to products that do not leave the production site or the farm, such as grazed grass, hay, trees (establishment stage for perennial crops): they are not "off the farm" but "on" the farm where they will finish or continue their life cycle.
2- Can an analysis present the aggregated results of several scenarios?
It is stated in the user manual that only one production can be studied per scenario. I would like to carry out the LCA at the scale of an agricultural watershed. Is it possible to assign each scenario to an agricultural production in the catchment area and to combine the results of all the scenarios to obtain a catchment-wide result, thus combining the results of all the productions in the catchment area?
No, this is not possible. The Scenario (Cropping system or Livestock production system) can aggregate the results of several steps. But an Analysis cannot aggregate the results of several Scenarios. To aggregate the results from several scenarios, you need to use LCA software.
3- I would like to modify the product of a Stage in plant production: how do I do it?
The "product concerned" was chosen by the user when the Step was created. It cannot be changed.
If the user has started to enter a technical itinerary in a Step with a relevant product that is not suitable for him/her, he/she can copy the Step (and all the data it contains) by changing the relevant system/product:
Go to the Scenario that contains the step to be copied
Locate the identifier of the step to be copied
Click on "Copy a step",
A search pop-up window appears
Use the identifier of the step to be copied as search criteria
Once you have found the step, click on "copy"
In the copy pop-up choose the desired system/product
The scenario will then contain the initial step and a copy of the step that will represent the product desired by the user.
4- I created a Step and I got the wrong product: what are the consequences?
Example: I have created a wheat stage instead of a potato stage
Each product is associated with chemical composition parameters, which classify the crops as straw cereals or not, which associate erosion risks to the different species according to their cultivation time... these parameters have an influence on the emissions of nitrate, phosphorus or metallic trace elements. The further apart the products are in terms of cultivation method and chemical composition, the greater the discrepancy between the model parameters, and therefore the greater the risk of drifting in the calculated emission results. In addition, the inventory created from the step will have the name of the product defined in the step. This name can then be changed in the LCA software.
5- Straw can be both a co-product and a crop residue. How to fill in the tabs "co-products" and "crop residues" in MEANS-InOut?
If I have 5 TMS/ha of straw, how can I approach the amount of crop residues knowing that the software asks for the "total amount of aerial and/or underground residues before possible export"?
In the case of a straw cereal, the two concepts of co-product and residue partially overlap, but the data entered in the co-product and crop residue tabs do not serve the same purpose:
The Co-product tab is used to define whether the straw is valorised, and to quantify the mass produced and exported. The tab should only be filled in if the straw is exported to be sold or used as animal bedding. If the straw is chopped and reincorporated into the soil, tick the box "there is no co-product in my system". If the straw is recovered, impacts will be attributed to this co-product.
The Crop residues tab is used to estimate the mass of residues left on the ground and the mass of nitrogen contained in these crop residues. This information will be used to calculate nitrate (NO3, to water) and nitrous oxide (N2O, to air) emissions. Even in the case where straw is recovered and exported, stubble is often left on the field and should be taken into account.
In the example given with 5 t DM straw:
In the Co-products tab: choose the unit "tonne of dry matter", and enter 5 for "quantity of co-product".
In the Crop residues tab: if we consider that 70% of the height of the straw produced is exported over the whole surface (30% remains in stubble), 5 t DM represents 70% of the residues to be filled in.
Type of residue: select aerial residue
Description: enter for example "thatch".
Quantity: this is the straw exported plus the stubble: 5 tonnes/70% -> inform 7140 (kg DM)
Percentage of area on which residues are exported: 100
Percentage of residues exported: 70
N content of residues: depends on the crop, for straw cereals the content is often slightly less than 0.01 kg N/kg DM
6- What is the yield of the previous crop when it is a grassland?
When studying a crop preceded by temporary grassland or alfalfa with a time span of more than one year, which value should be entered for the yield of the previous crop? The total yield of the grassland/alfalfa or the yield of the last cut?
This information is not mandatory. For a grassland, enter the overall yield of the grassland in the year preceding the crop under study.
7- What should be entered in the "Allocation factor" data when the system has no co-product?
The data is not mandatory. When the system has no co-product, implementing an allocation makes no sense: leave the "Allocation Factor" field blank.
8- In the "Product" tab, what is the purpose of the "Percentage of yield valorised" data?
This field was created for field vegetable crops. In vegetable production, sometimes not all the produce is valued. For example, one hectare may produce 60 tonnes of carrots, but only 48 tonnes are sold. The carrot production inventory will then take 48 tonnes as the reference flow: this means that all the resources mobilised for production and all the pollutants emitted in the field will be attributed to these 48 tonnes of carrots. However, the 60 t of carrots have taken up nitrogen, and this information is needed by the nitrate model. Both pieces of information are therefore needed and must be collected.
In this case, enter Yield = 60 (tonnes) Percentage of yield recovered = 80 (%). In all cases, the field is initialized by default to 100% of the valorized yield. It can be used and modulated for all types of crops.
9- How to fill in the sowing operations when entering two types of seed?
This can happen when a crop combination is sown, or when the inventory to be created is an average inventory. One sowing operation per seed type is mandatory, even if both seeds are sown at the same time. One solution is to enter one operation per sowing and modulate the number of passes according to the quantity sown: for example, for an inventory, 150 kg of purchased seed and 50 kg of farm seed are used. Enter 0.75 passes of the sowing operation for purchased seed and 0.25 passes of the sowing operation for farm-saved seed.
10- What influence does the variety of a species have on emissions?
What about hard wheat which has a higher protein content and receives more nitrogen fertilisation? Variety is not an explicitly collected information in MEANS-InOut. LCA and MEANS-InOut allow for the assessment of the impacts of a system as a whole and not of a single factor such as variety. What can be assessed by LCA is the whole "variety * technical itinerary", or depending on the objectives of the assessor "variety * technical itinerary * environment". It is not the variety as such that is evaluated, but the management associated with this variety and the production objective. In the case of a hard wheat, which receives more nitrogen than an "average" wheat, ammonia, nitrous oxide and nitrate emissions (depending on the model used) will be higher than for the average wheat.
11- Is the wrapper proposed in MEANS-InOut for harvesting wrapped hay a baler wrapper or only a wrapper?
Should I enter a "Hay baling" operation and a "Hay wrapping" operation or only a "Hay wrapping" operation that includes baling?
The wrapper offered in MEANS-InOut is a simple wrapper. The baling and wrapping information must therefore be entered.
12- How to take into account intermediate crops for energy purposes, or catch crops?
From the moment a crop is harvested for value, it is considered to be grown "for its own sake", for economic value, even if it has a short cycle, which takes place in winter between two so-called main crops. The valorised intermediate crop therefore has a different "status" from an intermediate crop whose objective is to reduce winter nitrate leaching. Insofar as the crop is harvested, the intermediate crop must be subject to a specific inventory. In MEANS-InOut, this involves creating a Step to enter the technical itinerary (even if very simplified) of this intermediate crop.
13- How to take into account the "nitrate trap" intermediate crops (CIPAN)?
When an intermediate crop is not valorised, it is considered to be grown "at the service" of the cropping system in which it is inserted. The perimeter of each so-called main crop extends from the harvest of the previous main crop to its own harvest. A "nitrate trap" crop is therefore included in the temporal perimeter of the main crop it precedes. In MEANS-InOut, the amount of seed of the intermediate crop, the cultivation operations associated with its establishment and its destruction are entered in the Step that represents the main crop following the intermediate crop. The "Intermediate crop" tab allows you to enter the species planted as a cover crop, the quantity of seed used and the sowing operation. The destruction operations of the cover crop can be entered in the "Tillage" or "Other mechanical activities" tabs.
14- What influence do intermediate "nitrate trap" crops (ICNAF) have on the calculated emissions and on the inventories?
In reality, the objectives of establishing ICNAF are to limit winter erosion and nitrate losses. It also involves the use of specific agricultural machinery and seeds, which have environmental impacts. In MEANS-InOut, the sowing and destruction operations of the intermediate crop (preceding the main crop) can and should be entered by the user. If this is the case, they will be taken into account (with their impacts) in the inventory of the main crop that follows the intermediate crop. The quantity of seed of the intermediate crop can and should also be entered by the user. If this is the case, it will be approximated by a grass seed (and its impacts) in the inventory of the main crop. The MEANS-InOut erosion models are not sensitive enough to take into account the presence or absence of an intermediate crop. The presence of an ICNAF therefore does not influence the estimation of the quantities of soil eroded by MEANS-InOut. For nitrate losses, several models are proposed by MEANS-InOut. Depending on the model, the presence of intermediate crops is taken into account or not:
SQCB model: applied to field vegetables and parameter crops. This model does not take into account intermediate crops. (cf. Agribalyse Methodological Report, agricultural section, Koch and Salou, 2020.)
Comifer model, adapted by Arvalis: applied to field crops. This model takes into account intermediate crops. This model works by translating leaching risk classes into the quantity of nitrate leached. The presence of ICNAF reduces the risk, and therefore the estimated nitrate flows (Tailleur et al., 2012 and Rapport méthodologique d'Agribalyse, volet agricole, Koch and Salou, 2020.)
I-N v3 model: applied to all field crops and grasslands, except perennial crops. This semi-dynamic model takes into account the N uptake by the intermediate crop, and thus affects nitrate emissions. (Bockstaller et al., 2020).
15- In the "Milking Facility" tab, what does "Number of months milked per year" mean? Should the months when the cows are dry be removed?
In MEANS-InOut, a model is used to estimate water consumption as a function of milking machine characteristics. The question corresponds to the duration of the milking parlour "shut down", not the duration of the cows' dry period. If calvings are not grouped, and cows are not all dried off at the same time, it is likely that the parlour is used all year round, so enter 12.
16- In a "Sow Workshop" stage: which piglets should be considered for the "Number of lost piglets" data: stillborn piglets or only live-born piglets that died before weaning?
The data is not used in the calculations. There is therefore no definitive recommendation for entering this data. For consistency of data collection with cattle production, it is proposed that the number of dead piglets born + the number of piglets born alive and dead before weaning be entered. In order to verify the data, the information on the Technical data form (weaned piglets + lost piglets) should be compared with the prolificity rate "total born" of the sows.
17- How can rams be represented in MEANS-InOut, especially for feeding? Can they be counted in the Ewe Stage in production and a specific ration created for rams?
If rams are counted as part of the ewe population, a separate ration for rams should not be entered. This is because MEANS-InOut assumes that all animals in a stage receive the same feed. If the user enters a ration of 4 kg of dry matter with the intention of feeding it to ewes and a ration of 2.5 kg of dry matter with the intention of feeding it to rams, MEANS-InOut will "understand" that 6.5 kg of dry matter has been fed to all animals, and will perform the calculations on this basis. In the AGRIBALYSE database, rams have been modelled as ewes without any specificity (same feed, and same weight as ewes...).
18- Why is it compulsory to enter wool production for renewal ewe lambs and for ewes when it is not compulsory for lambs to be sold?
This is related to the length of time the animals are present on the farm. Renewal ewe lambs and ewes are present for the full duration of the time frame (one year), and therefore produce wool. Lambs produced for sale are generally sold at four months of age, so they do not have time to produce wool. This is why the data is not mandatory. The data "wool production per animal" can be collected for lambs, in case the user wants to model a presence of lambs longer than 4 months, but it is not mandatory.
19- Why is it mandatory to enter a milk production in the stage Suckling sheep?
Indeed, milk is not a product of the meat sheep system. It is a flow internal to the system as it is represented in the AGRIBALYSE modelling, used by MEANS-InOut: the milk is produced by the suckling ewe stage, and enters the "lambs from birth to weaning" stage. This flow of milk between ewes and lambs "carries" a flow of nitrogen between the workshops.
In each step the nitrogen excretion of the animals is calculated as the difference between the nitrogen ingested and the nitrogen fixed by the animals. From this excretion, the emissions of NH3, NO and N2O are estimated. Ewes fix nitrogen in their milk production. However, if this milk is not reported, the nitrogen fixed in the milk will be counted as excreted by the ewes. The lambs ingest the same milk, which generates nitrogen excretion. At the system level, it does not matter whether the 'milk-borne' nitrogen is excreted by the lambs or by the ewes. However, it is important that this excreted nitrogen is only counted once. This can be achieved in two ways:
Either by not counting the milk at the output of the ewe stage or at the input of the lamb stage
Or by counting the milk output of the ewe stage and counting the milk input of the lamb stage.
The second choice was made in MEANS-InOut to make this nitrogen flow between the Ewe Stage and the Lamb Stage explicit.
20- Why does "Activity for feeding" appear for renewal ewe lambs and ewes, but not for lambs?
What is the purpose of this information?
In sheep systems, there is often more than one 'output' for each stage: animals, wool, possibly lambs and milk.
The "Activity for feeding" data is used to calculate the allocation factor between the different outputs of the stage, based on the energy required for the activity and maintenance of the animals, their growth, wool production and possibly for gestation and lactation. The "Activity for feeding" data allows more precise parameters to be set for the energy required for the activity and maintenance of the animals. In the lamb stages, the only output of the stage is the lamb, all the impacts of the stage are attributed to this output. No allocation is therefore required, and the data is not requested.
21- For suckler ewes, what does the "Weight after parturition" data mean?
Is it the weight after the first lambing or an average weight for an "average" lambing? Is it the weight of the ewe minus the weight of the lambs and water or the weight of the ewe lamb before farrowing? This is the weight of a ewe after the first farrowing, i.e. the weight of the ewe lamb minus the lambs and water. This data allows us to know the weight gain of the ewes between their arrival in the flock and the culling. This then allows the calculation of nitrogen fixation by ewes and the allocation of impacts between wool lambs and culling.
22- For ewe lambs, what is the purpose of the question "Are the ewe lambs less than 100 days old when this ration is fed? " ?
This information is used to calculate the amount of water to drink. Depending on whether they are more or less than 100 days old (average age at weaning), lambs do not drink the same amount of water: 1.5 L/day before 100 days versus 2.5 L after.
23- In the tab "manure at the building", what is the quantity of manure to be filled in?
The amount of dung to be entered is the mass of dung produced by the animals present in the Stage, over the entire time frame.
24- Does the amount of effluent include the amount of litter?
Yes, litter is included in the amount of effluent.
25- I can't find the effluent I need, can I use an effluent that is similar to it (e.g. use broiler manure to replace parent broiler manure).
Yes, in the emission calculations only the animal species and the liquid/solid (or droppings) character of the effluent are taken into account and not the fine composition of the effluent (N content, amount of litter...) The "precise" type of effluent - i.e. its N content - is taken into account in the calculations only if several types of effluent are entered (to allocate the nitrogen excreted by the animals between the different types of effluent), but this is an infrequent case of use.
26- I changed the mass of manure produced by the animals, but the ammonia emissions did not change: why?
This is due to the way ammonia emissions are calculated. These emissions are calculated by modelling, based on the amount of nitrogen excreted by the animals, and not on the amount of manure entered by the user.
27- In the tab "Manure in the barn", how do you enter the Frequency of manure removal from the barn for animals that are present for less than one year?
Should the frequency of emptying the barn be based on the length of time the animals are present or on the whole year? Example: Heifers over 2 years old are only in the building for 6 months (before calving) and the building is emptied 3 times during the time they are there, do I have to enter 6 times or 3 times? The data is not mandatory. It is not used in the calculations, neither for emissions nor for energy consumption. There is therefore no univocal recommendation for its entry, especially as the same form is used for all animals, which have contrasting rearing methods (batch, bands, presence all year round). In this tab, data is collected "over the duration of the time frame". In order to capture the possible variability of production over the course of a year, the time frame used is a full year. In this case, it is recommended to enter the total number of evacuations of the building over a year and to keep track of the choice made in the documentation page of the Step.
28- In the tab "Manure at the farm", are the fields "Dry matter content (%)" and "Nitrogen content in manure (kg N/kg)" mandatory?
Are they used in calculations? These data are not mandatory. Default values are associated with each type of dejection. They can be displayed using button (i). The Dry Matter content is not used in the emission calculations. The nitrogen rate is only used when two different types of manure are entered in the same step (e.g. manure and slurry if the user is doing an average inventory in France), to determine how much of the nitrogen excreted by the animals is in the form of slurry and how much is in the form of manure, because the two types of manure do not have the same NH3 emission factor. If only one form of manure is entered, the data Nitrogen rate in manure is not used in the emission calculations.
29- In which unit should the effluent storage capacity be entered?
Dans l’onglet infrastructure, la capacité de stockage est associée au type de stockage, et elle apparait à la fin de son nom :
Slurry pits are to be entered in m3, manure pits in m². In the Manure tab, the quantity of stored manure must be entered: in this case, it must be entered in the unit associated with the effluent.
30- How are ammonia (NH3) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from livestock calculated in MEANS-InOut?
Emissions are calculated in two steps:
First step: estimation of the mass of nitrogen excreted by the animals;
Second step: estimation of the amount of nitrogenous gases emitted from this excreted nitrogen.
Estimation of the mass of nitrogen excreted : This mass is estimated by modelling, by the difference between the mass of nitrogen ingested by the animals and the amount of nitrogen fixed by the animals. The mass of nitrogen ingested by the animals is calculated by multiplying the nitrogen content of the feed by the mass of feed ingested by the herd. The mass of nitrogen fixed by the animals is obtained by multiplying the mass of animal products (live weights, or quantity of milk....) by the nitrogen content of these animal products. Estimating ammonia emissions : Ammonia emission factors are applied to the mass of nitrogen excreted by the animals depending on the animal species, and the form of the manure (slurry vs. manure). Estimation of nitrous oxide emissions: Nitrous oxide emission factors are applied to the mass of nitrogen excreted by the animals according to the form of the manure (slurry vs. manure) and the storage method (covered or uncovered pit).
31- How to translate the fact that cull cows are not fattened?
If cows are culled at dry-off, simply leave the "Cull Cows Finishing" step blank. The cows are considered to be culled at the end of the "Cull Dairy Cows in Production" stage.
32- I exported a Dairy Cow Stage in production to LCA software. The inventories created represent milk and calf at birth. Why is there no inventory for the cull cow?
In reality, the cull cow exits the "producing dairy cow workshop". However, the AGRIBALYSE model, used in MEANS-InOut, states that the cull cow does not bear any of the impacts of this "stage". The impacts of the Production Dairy Cow Stage are split between milk and calf. The cull dairy cow carries the impacts of growing heifers. In order to streamline the export functionality of MEANS-InOut, a Cull Cow process has not been created at the exit of the Producing Dairy Cow Stage.
33- A farrow-to-finish pig farm is modelled in three stages: Post-weaning, Fattening, Sow. How to take into account a "first age" piglet feed, distributed to piglets in maternity (before weaning) and then in post-weaning until 7 to 10 days after weaning?
In the case studied, 59 tonnes of baby food are distributed. I don't know the proportion of this feed distributed in maternity and post-weaning, but I can estimate it. How do I fill in this information? The modelling of the pig system in MEANS-InOut assumes that the feed entered in the Sow Step is only for gilts and sows, not for piglets. The Sow Stage feed forms in MEANS-InOut therefore do not allow the entry of feed for piglets. The easiest way to fill in the information is to pretend that all the feed is distributed in the post-weaning stage, and therefore to enter the corresponding feed mass in the post-weaning stage feed forms. In this way, all impacts related to feed production will be taken into account.
34- How are emissions from farrowing pigs calculated? To which product are these emissions allocated?
Emissions from excreta of farrowing piglets are not calculated as such. Emissions from the Sow Stage are calculated for sows and piglets as a whole (see question How are ammonia (NH3) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from rearing calculated in MEANS-InOut?) The impacts of the sow stage are shared between the cull sow and the pigs on the basis of a so-called biophysical allocation:
Of the energy expended by the sows, it is assessed how much is spent on their growth and how much is spent on gestation and lactation (and thus on piglet growth). The impacts of the sow stage are distributed between the cull sows and the pigs according to this distribution key.
35- I see inconsistencies between the data generated from a Broiler stage in MEANS-InOut and the Broiler data from the AGRIBALYSE database.
Example: in MEANS-InOut I entered an electricity consumption of 19,000 kWh for a production of 150,000 conventional broilers sold at 1.9 kg live weight, i.e. a consumption of 0.067 kWh/ kg of chicken. The broiler in the AGRIBALYSE database has a consumption of 25,412 kWh for a production of 281,202 kg of broilers, i.e. 0.090 kWh/ kg of chicken. How can this difference be explained? This difference is linked to the scope of the system studied. The perimeter of a MEANS-InOut broiler stage includes the growth of broilers from 1 day old until they leave the farm. The scope of the AGRIBALYSE database includes the growth of broilers from 1 day of age until they leave the farm, but also the production of 1-day-old chicks in the broiler house, as well as the rearing of female breeders from the time they leave the egg to the time they enter the broiler house. As the AGRIBALYSE data includes additional rearing stages compared to the MEANS-InOut broiler stage, it is normal that its electricity consumption per kg of chicken is higher. It is possible to represent the rearing of female breeders and the production of chicks in MEANS-InOut in "Future Breeders" and "Breeders" stages respectively.
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