By combining Agroscope’s extensive knowledge and experience in LCA and ecoinvent’s robust database infrastructure, the partnership aims to provide high-quality data to enhance software tools, inform decision-making processes, and contribute to international sustainability goals.

 

Agroscope’s LCA Research Group conducts research on environmental impacts and sustainability assessment in the agriculture and food sector since 2000. Their expertise lies in the development of methods, data, and tools applied in projects on agricultural production systems, farms, or the agricultural sector for agricultural products, food, dietary patterns, and scenarios as well as agricultural policy measures.

 

As a member of the ecoinvent Expert Group and Editorial Group, Agroscope has contributed significantly to the ecoinvent database, specifically in the domain of agriculture. Over the past 20 years, Agroscope has developed generic Life Cycle Assessment calculation tools for field crops and farms, including livestock production and food. Their involvement in various database projects and initiatives has bridged critical data gaps, ensuring consistent and reliable LCA data and environmental product information for the agri-food sector.

 

The renewed partnership between ecoinvent and Agroscope will concentrate on the following areas:

  1. Researching further methodological development of Life Cycle Inventories in the agriculture and food sectors.
  2. Harmonizing modeling approaches to enhance consistency.
  3. Closing data gaps in the agriculture and food sector.
  4. Updating existing life-cycle inventories to ensure accuracy and relevancy.
  5. Easier access to Swiss-specific LCA information on the agri-food sector
  6. Coordinating with third-party activities related to ecoinvent’s domain affected by the collaboration.
  7. Ensuring quality assurance of life-cycle inventories, including the review of submitted datasets in the agricultural and animal husbandry sector.

 

By combining Agroscope’s extensive knowledge and experience in LCA and ecoinvent’s robust database infrastructure, the partnership aims to provide high-quality data to enhance software tools, inform decision-making processes, and contribute to international sustainability goals.

 

The partnership also includes joint tasks such as the strategic and content-related development of the agriculture and food sector within the ecoinvent database, funding project plans with potential third-party involvement, and facilitating knowledge transfer and exchange with the scientific community.

 

Both ecoinvent and Agroscope are committed to advancing sustainable practices in the agriculture and food sectors through this collaboration. Regular updates on the progress and outcomes of the partnership will be shared with the public.

 

For further information, please contact:

 

Simone Fazio
Project Manager, Agriculture Sector
ecoinvent
fazio@ecoinvent.org

www.ecoinvent.org

 

Jens Lansche
Project Manager, Life Cycle Assessment
Agroscope

jens.lansche@agroscope.admin.ch

www.agroscope.admin.ch

 

Mediendienst Agroscope
Schwarzenburgstrasse 161
3003 Bern, Switzerland
media@agroscope.admin.ch
+41 58 466 88 62

About ecoinvent

ecoinvent is an internationally active, mission-driven organization devoted to supporting high-quality, science-based environmental assessments. Its activities include publishing and maintaining the ecoinvent database, a comprehensive life cycle inventory database that provides reliable and transparent information on the environmental impacts of various products and services. The ecoinvent database encompasses over 2,400 agriculture datasets, including sectors such as agriculture, animal husbandry, and more. The database covers various geographies, including more than 40 countries and multiple regions within those countries.

About Agroscope

Agroscope is the Swiss center of excellence for agricultural research and is affiliated with the Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG). Agroscope makes an important contribution to a sustainable agriculture and food sector as well as to an intact environment, thereby contributing to an improved quality of life.