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Life cycle assessment of Swiss wine from conventional and organic farming

Description

The consumption of food and beverages causes more than a quarter of an average person’s environmental impact in Switzerland. Apart from meat, fish and dairy products, beverage and semiluxury food – especially spirits and coffee – contribute to a significant share. Over the entire life cycle of wine – from the cultivation of the vineyard to consumption – resources are consumed and greenhouse gas emissions are released. Currently, publicly available data for the environmental impacts of the different life cycle phases in Swiss wine production are missing. Therefore, this study will collect data for Swiss red and white wine and based on the life cycle assessment point out the environmental reduction potentials for the Swiss wine cultivation and production. Thereby the entire life cycle from the extraction of raw materials, through the cultivation and processing of the grapes, bottling and distribution to disposal of packaging (cradle-to-grave) is considered. In addition to organic and conventional produced wine also the cultivation of fungus-resistant varieties is analysed in order to reveal specific optimizations among the various production systems to the winery owner and winemakers.

Key Data

Projectlead

Project team

Dr. Jürg Buchli, Dr. Matthias Meier, Prof. Dr. Peter Schumacher, Sarah Wettstein

Project partners

Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau FiBL

Project status

completed, 12/2014 - 04/2016

Funding partner

Bundesamt für Umwelt BAFU

Project budget

62'200 CHF