Thesis Defence: Regionalized life cycle inventory and assessment of conventional and potential alternative malting barley production practices in Western Canada

Lauren McNeil, supervised by Dr. Nathan Pelletier, will defend their thesis titled “Regionalized life cycle inventory and assessment of conventional and potential alternative malting barley production practices in Western Canada” in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies – Sustainability theme.

An abstract for Lauren McNeil’s thesis is included below.

Defences are open to all members of the campus community as well as the general public. Registration is not required for in-person defences.

Abstract

Western Canada has a reputation for producing high-quality malting barley due to favourable climate and growing conditions. However, malting barley production has been documented as a significant contributor to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of beer manufacturing. With Canada announcing its intention to reduce GHG emissions by 45% below 2005 levels by 2030, it is imperative to assess and mitigate the environmental impacts of malting barley production. Further, since conventional inorganic N fertilizer manufacturing is consistently reported as a major contributor to the life cycle impacts of field crop production, it is necessary to explore the mitigation potential of alternative, inorganic N fertilizer production processes. To establish baselines of the resource intensity and environmental impacts of Canadian malting barley production, and to inform and track future emission reduction measures, the goals of this research project were to a) develop regionalized life cycle inventories (LCIs) for malting barley production in the Canadian Prairie provinces; b) conduct ISO 14044-compliant cradle-to-gate life cycle assessments (LCAs) at the provincial, ecozone and regional level and for major malting barley varieties; and c) perform a scenario analysis to determine the mitigation potential of green ammonia fertilizer manufacturing for the Canadian malting barley industry.

Variety CDC Copeland, Alberta and Ecozone 12 represented the lowest impacts across the greatest number of impact categories. Nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing, field-level emissions and energy usage for field operations were major contributors to overall life cycle environmental impacts and resource intensity, with field-level emissions contributing > 40% to global warming, stratospheric ozone depletion, fine particulate matter formation, eutrophication and acidification. The scenario analysis demonstrated that the transition to green ammonia fertilizer production could reduce global warming and fossil resource scarcity impacts for the malting barley product system by 10% and 25%, respectively. However, trade-offs were identified for water, land and energy usage, as well as increased toxicity impacts of up to 60%. In the near-term, mitigation efforts should prioritize demand-side strategies to reduce nitrogen fertilizer usage on farm. It is also recommended to investigate the nitrogen-use efficiency of major malting barley varieties and to breed new nitrogen-efficient varieties.