Fitting fertilisation in LCA: allocation to crops in a cropping plan

This article reflects some results of a study on life cycle assessment (LCA) for agricultural products, concerning specific features of agricultural production. Attention is given to the cultivation of crops in a crop rotation and the role of fertilisation. When carrying out an LCA for a single agricultural product one should be aware of the fact that arable crops are usually grown in a crop rotation system. So, it is important to show the cropping plan and to identify all activities that may be meant to benefit more than one crop, like fertilisation with phosphate, potassium and organic matter. Environmental impacts of the application of phosphate and potassium should be allocated to the crops according to the uptake and uptake efficiency per crop. Impacts caused by fertilisation with organic matter should be allocated according to the land use per crop.