Assessing Impacts on the Natural Resource Soil in Life Cycle Assessment: Methods for Compaction and Water Erosion

There are currently limited life cycle impact assessment methods existing for assessing impacts on the natural resource soil. In this paper, we develop methods for the assessment of compaction and water erosion impacts within one framework, which can be expanded with additional degradation processes in the future. Our methods assess potential long-term impacts from agricultural activities on the production capacity of soils and are able to distinguish between different management choices such as machinery selection and tillage practices. Characterization factors are provided as global raster data sets at high spatial resolution (∼1 km) and for larger geographic units including uncertainties of spatial aggregation. Uncertainties due to variability of climate and weather are provided where possible. The application of the methods is demonstrated and discussed in a simplified case study. Results show that in a highly mechanized scenario of global agriculture without any conservation measures, long-term yearly soil productivity losses due to compaction and water erosion can amount to up to double-digit percentages for major crops. This confirms the relevance of compaction and water erosion impacts for agricultural LCAs.