The Carbon and Land Footprint of Certified Food Products

Bellassen Valentin (), Drut Marion, Federico Antonioli, Brečić Ružica, Donati Michele, Ferrer-Pérez Hugo, Gauvrit Lisa, Hoang Viet, Knutsen Steinnes Kamilla, Lilavanichakul Apichaya, Majewski Edward (), Malak-Rawlikowska Agata (), Mattas Konstadinos, Nguyen An, Papadopoulos Ioannis, Peerlings Jack, Ristic Bojan, Tomić Maksan Marina, Aron Torok, Vittersø Gunnar and Diallo Abdoul
Additional contact information
Bellassen Valentin: CESAER, AgroSup Dijon, INRAE, Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
Drut Marion: CESAER, AgroSup Dijon, INRAE, Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
Brečić Ružica: Faculty of Economics and Business Zagreb, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Donati Michele: University of Parma, Parma, Italy
Ferrer-Pérez Hugo: Center for Agro Food Economy and Development, Barcelona, Spain
Gauvrit Lisa: Ecozept, Montpellier, France
Hoang Viet: University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
Knutsen Steinnes Kamilla: OsloMet, Consumption Research Norway, Oslo, Norway
Lilavanichakul Apichaya: Department of Agro-Industrial Technology, Faculty of Agro-Industry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand
Majewski Edward: Warsaw University of Life Sciences - SGGW, Warszawa, Poland
Malak-Rawlikowska Agata: Warsaw University of Life Sciences - SGGW, Warszawa, Poland
Mattas Konstadinos: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
Nguyen An: University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
Papadopoulos Ioannis: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
Peerlings Jack: Wageningen Universiteit, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Ristic Bojan: University of Belgrade, Beograd, Serbia
Tomić Maksan Marina: Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Vittersø Gunnar: OsloMet, Consumption Research Norway, Oslo, Norway
Diallo Abdoul: CESAER, AgroSup Dijon, INRAE, Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Hugo Ferrer Pérez

Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, 2021, vol. 19, issue 2, 113-126

Abstract: The carbon and land footprint of 26 certified food products – geographical indications and organic products and their conventional references are assessed. This assessment goes beyond existing literature by (1) designing a calculation method fit for the comparison between certified food and conventional production, (2) using the same calculation method and parameters for 52 products – 26 Food Quality Schemes and their reference products – to allow for a meaningful comparison, (3) transparently documenting this calculation method and opening access to the detailed results and the underlying data, and (4) providing the first assessment of the carbon and land footprint of geographical indications. The method used is Life Cycle Assessment, largely relying on the Cool Farm Tool for the impact assessment. The most common indicator of climate impact, the carbon footprint expressed per ton of product, is not significantly different between certified foods and their reference products. The only exception to this pattern are vegetal organic products, whose carbon footprint is 16% lower. This is because the decrease in greenhouse gas emissions from the absence of mineral fertilizers is never fully offset by the associated lower yield. The climate impact of certified food per hectare is however 26% than their reference and their land footprint is logically 24% higher. Technical specifications directly or indirectly inducing a lower use of mineral fertilizers are a key driver of this pattern. So is yield, which depends both on terroir and farming practices. Overall, this assessment reinforces the quality policy of the European Union: promoting certified food is not inconsistent with mitigating climate change.

Keywords: certified food; carbon footprint; land footprint; organic farming; geographical indications (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1515/jafio-2019-0037 (text/html)
For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.

Related works:
Working Paper: The Carbon and Land Footprint of Certified Food Products (2021)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bpj:bjafio:v:19:y:2021:i:2:p:113-126:n:3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/jafio/html

DOI: 10.1515/jafio-2019-0037

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization is currently edited by Azzeddine Azzam

More articles in Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization from De Gruyter
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().