Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (IMBIV), CONICET y Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, 5000 Córdoba, Argentina.
Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (IMBIV), CONICET y Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, 5000 Córdoba, Argentina.
Sci Total Environ. 2018 Jun 1;625:199-208. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.12.286. Epub 2017 Dec 28.
Of all human activities, agriculture has one of the highest environmental impacts, particularly related to Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, energy use and land use change. Soybean and maize are two of the most commercialized agricultural commodities worldwide. Argentina contributes significantly to this trade, being the third major producer of soybeans, the first exporter of soymeal and soybean oil, and the third exporter of maize. Despite the economic importance of these crops and the products derived, there are very few studies regarding GHG emissions, energy use and efficiencies associated to Argentinean soybean and maize production. Therefore, the aim of this work is to determine the carbon and energy footprint, as well as the carbon and energy efficiencies, of soybeans and maize produced in Argentina, by analyzing 18 agronomic zones covering an agricultural area of 1.53millionkm. Our results show that, for both crops, the GHG and energy efficiencies at the Pampean region were significantly higher than those at the extra-Pampean region. The national average for production of soybeans in Argentina results in 6.06ton/ton CO-eq emitted to the atmosphere, while 0.887ton of soybean were produced per GJ of energy used; and for maize 5.01ton/ton CO-eq emitted to the atmosphere and 0.740ton of maize were produced per each GJ of energy used. We found that the large differences on yields, GHGs and energy efficiencies between agronomic regions for soybean and maize crop production are mainly driven by climate, particularly mean annual precipitation. This study contributes for the first time to understand the carbon and energy footprint of soybean and maize production throughout several agronomic zones in Argentina. The significant differences found in the productive efficiencies questions on the environmental viability of expanding the agricultural frontier to less suitable lands for crop production.
在所有人类活动中，农业对环境的影响最大之一，尤其是与温室气体（GHG）排放、能源使用和土地利用变化有关。大豆和玉米是全球商业化程度最高的两种农产品。阿根廷在这一贸易中占有重要地位，是世界第三大大豆生产国、第一大豆粕和豆油出口国以及第三大玉米出口国。尽管这些作物及其衍生产品具有重要的经济意义，但关于阿根廷大豆和玉米生产的温室气体排放、能源使用和效率的研究却很少。因此，本研究的目的是通过分析覆盖 153 万平方千米农业面积的 18 个农业区，确定阿根廷大豆和玉米生产的碳和能源足迹以及碳和能源效率。我们的研究结果表明，对于这两种作物，潘帕斯地区的 GHG 和能源效率明显高于潘帕斯以外地区。阿根廷大豆生产的全国平均水平为每生产 6.06 吨 CO-eq 排放到大气中，而每消耗 1GJ 的能源可生产 0.887 吨大豆；对于玉米，每排放到大气中 5.01 吨 CO-eq，可生产 0.740 吨玉米，每消耗 1GJ 的能源。我们发现，大豆和玉米作物生产在农业区之间产量、GHG 和能源效率存在巨大差异，主要是由气候驱动的，特别是年平均降水量。本研究首次有助于了解阿根廷多个农业区大豆和玉米生产的碳和能源足迹。在生产效率方面存在显著差异，这使得人们对将农业前沿扩展到更不适宜作物生产的土地的环境可行性产生了质疑。
