Quantifying the environmental impact of production in agriculture and horticulture in The Netherlands: which emissions do we need to consider?

This study focuses on the environmental impact of agricultural production. The aim of the study is to identify the most important sources of greenhouse gases, acidifying and eutrophying compounds in Tomato Cultivation, Greenhouse Horticulture and Total Agriculture in The Netherlands. Within each of these three sectors we distinguish two systems. The System Agriculture (System A) includes the first-order processes of the agricultural production chain and the System Industry (System I) includes some second-order processes. Results indicate that, in general, System A emissions exceed System I emissions. However, in some cases emissions from System I are relatively high compared to System A emissions, and need to be considered when quantifying the total environmental impact of agricultural production. For example, acidifying emissions from the production of electricity and rockwool (both second-order processes) contribute almost 25% to the total acidifying emissions from System Greenhouse Horticulture A+I.