Agri-footprint® is developed by Blonk Consultants. The aim of the LCA database is to facilitate transparency and a more rapid transformation to sustainable food supply chains. The first version of the database has been released in 2014, followed by yearly updates.
Availability of the LCA food database
The database is currently available in LCA software SimaPro
and openLCA.
Besides that, environmental impacts of all Agri-footprint datasets,
including process descriptions, are available in Excel format.
The Agri-footprint LCA database will help you to:
- Perform food specific agri-food Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) & Carbon Footprints;
- Access agri-food building blocks not offered by current databases;
- Manage your own agri-food LCA data like other sectors (e.g. plastics industry, glass industry);
- Access high quality data.
Help us build the perfect database for you!
We're always looking for ways to improve our Agri-footprint LCA database.
Please take out a moment to complete our survey to help us build the perfect database for you!
Learn more about Agri-footprint® - LCA database
A little bit of history
The early years of Agricultural Life Cycle Assessments
In the 1970s and 1980s, most LCAs concentrated on food packaging (e.g. beverage containers, milk packaging, one-way versus returnable). The first agricultural LCAs were performed in the early 1990s.Pioneering food LCA case studies include the following:
- Tomatoes, by Gysi and Reist (1990)
- Ice cream, by Bolliger and Zumbrunn (1991)
- Margarines, by Unilever (Vis, Krozer, van Duyse & Koudijs, 1992)
Learn more about the history of agricultural LCAs
Agri-footprint® timeline
Development of the LCA database
2015
Major update:Agri-footprint® 2.0
Critical review by RIVM
(National Institute for Public Health and the Environment)
2018
Agri-footprint® 4.0Available in SimaPro
2019
Agri-footprint® 5.0Released
(not yet available in SimaPro, openLCA)
Methodology
Methodology reports of Agri-footprint® 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0
The methodology report of Agri-footprint® contains background information on the methodology, calculation rules and data that are used for the development of the data published in Agri-footprint®.
The background report is split in two documents.
- Part 1 describes the overall methodology and basic principles like allocation, system boundaries, reviews and limitations;
- Part 2 describes the data that is used to model the processes.
Download methodology reports
Agri-footprint 5.0
Agri-footprint 4.0
Agri-footprint 3.0
Agri-footprint 2.0
Products
Products included in Agri-footprint®
Agri-footprint® contains many inventories of food, feed and beverage related ingredients.
In total the LCA database contains more than 5,000 products and processes. Some examples:
- Fertilizer industry: Calcium ammonium nitrate, Ureum, Di ammonium phosphate, NPK fertilizers
- Vegetable Oil and Protein meal industry: Soybean oil, coconut oil, sunflower oil, palm oil
- Sugar industry: Beet sugar, Cane sugar
- Starch industry: Maize starch, flour, potato starch, tapioca
- Dairy industry: Milk, cream, milk powder
- Meat industry: Beef, veal, broilers, pork