[PhD student] Clémence Huck : Assessing the environmental impact of the use of digital technologies in agriculture in the context of agroecological transition

Assessing the environmental impact of the use of digital technologies in agriculture in the context of agroecological transition

I'm working on the environmental assessment of the use of digital tools in agriculture using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), on the Occitanum project. After two years in a BCPST preparatory class, I entered the Institut Agro Montpellier school of agronomy to obtain an agricultural engineering diploma. In my final year, I specialized in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), taking the AgroTIC course. I'm now working on a thesis on a multi-disciplinary theme linking agronomy and environmental sciences.

Digital tools and services can act as a lever to accelerate the agroecological transition of agriculture, as they provide solutions to environmental, social and economic issues. A central point of the Occitanum project is the evaluation of the contributions, costs and impacts inherent in the use of digital solutions by farmers, in order to produce technical-economic, social and environmental references. This thesis falls into the latter category. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a standardized environmental evaluation method recognized by the scientific community for quantifying the environmental impacts of a product or service from a life cycle perspective (from raw material extraction to waste management) and multi-criteria, i.e. considering a wide range of impact categories. However, the use of LCA to assess the environmental impacts associated with the use of digital technologies in agriculture raises a number of questions (concerning the objectives, method, data, interpretation or operational use of the results) that need to be addressed in order to provide solid arguments to users, suppliers or public decision-makers.  The aim of this thesis is to propose a methodological framework for environmental assessment applied to changes in farmers' practices induced by the use of digital technology. This evaluation framework will provide metrics for users (farmers, advisors) as well as suppliers and public decision-makers, to support the agroecological transition.

Digital tools are gradually being introduced into agriculture, and despite the promotion of digital agriculture by numerous institutions (international and national), their environmental impacts are rarely assessed. It is therefore important to provide an environmental assessment framework to measure their impacts. My motivation for this subject is linked to my environmental values.

• Starting date: 1st October 2022
• Unité: Itap, Inrae
• University: Université de Montpellier
• PhD school: GAIA
• Scientific field : Environment sciences, agronomy
• Thesis management: Eléonore Loiseau et Véronique Bellon-Maurel, Itap, Inrae
• Thesis management: Thibault Salou et Alexia Gobrecht, Itap, Inrae
• Funding: « Territoires d’Innovation Occitanum » project
• #DigitAg: Axe 1 : Impact des technologies de l'information et de la communication sur le monde rural, Axe 6 : Modélisation et simulation (systèmes de production agricole), Challenge 7 : Intégration de l’agriculture dans les chaînes de valeur

Keywords : Life cycle assessment (LCA), digital agriculture, environmental performance, agro-ecological transition, digitalization

Abstract: Nowadays, digital technologies are involved in the entire agricultural value chain, from production to distribution in all sectors (plant and animal). The current diversity of digital solutions constitutes an opportunity to support the necessary transitions towards value-creating agriculture while reducing its impact on environment and health. The evaluation of the contributions and the costs and impacts inherent in the use of digital solutions by farmers remains a crucial stake. Technico-economic references must be generated, as well as social and environmental impacts references. This thesis is focused on this last point. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) offers a recognised and standardised evaluation framework to quantify the environmental impacts of a product or service. However, the implementation of LCA to assess the environmental impacts of digital technologies in agriculture raises a number of questions (on the objectives, the method, the data, the interpretation or the operational use of the results) that need to be addressed in order to provide solid arguments to users, suppliers or public decision-makers. The thesis aims to address the following two questions:

(i) How to assess the environmental impacts of digital use in agriculture by mobilising the LCA framework in a context of an abundance of services provided by digital solutions and extremely varied and contrasting situations of use (different sectors, production systems, pedoclimatic conditions, socio-economic environment, etc.)?
(ii) How can we prioritise the actions to be implemented to achieve the objectives set by the agro-ecological transition?