An Approach for Describing the Effects of Grazing on Soil Quality in Life-Cycle Assessment

Andreas Roesch, Peter Weisskopf, Hansruedi Oberholzer, Alain Valsangiacomo and Thomas Nemecek
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Andreas Roesch: Agroscope, LCA Research Group, Reckenholzstrasse 191, CH-8046 Zurich, Switzerland
Peter Weisskopf: Agroscope, Soil Fertility and Soil Protection Group, Reckenholzstrasse 191, CH-8046 Zurich, Switzerland
Hansruedi Oberholzer: Agroscope, Soil Fertility and Soil Protection Group, Reckenholzstrasse 191, CH-8046 Zurich, Switzerland
Alain Valsangiacomo: Agroscope, LCA Research Group, Reckenholzstrasse 191, CH-8046 Zurich, Switzerland
Thomas Nemecek: Agroscope, LCA Research Group, Reckenholzstrasse 191, CH-8046 Zurich, Switzerland

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 18, 1-14

Abstract: Describing the impact of farming on soil quality is challenging, because the model should consider changes in the physical, chemical, and biological status of soils. Physical damage to soils through heavy traffic was already analyzed in several life-cycle assessment studies. However, impacts on soil structure from grazing animals were largely ignored, and physically based model approaches to describe these impacts are very rare. In this study, we developed a new modeling approach that is closely related to the stress propagation method generally applied for analyzing compaction caused by off-road vehicles. We tested our new approach for plausibility using a comprehensive multi-year dataset containing detailed information on pasture management of several hundred Swiss dairy farms. Preliminary results showed that the new approach provides plausible outcomes for the two physical soil indicators “macropore volume” and “aggregate stability”.

Keywords: soil structure; macropore volume; aggregate stability; compaction; modeling; grazing animal; trampling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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