Life Cycle Assessment of Milled Rice Production : Case Study in Thailand

Nowadays, concerns with environmental issues are increasing considerably in every agricultural sector. To preferably avoid, or at least reduce the environmental impacts, food production should involve assessing the environmental impact of the entire food chain. One of the well known methodologies used for the evaluation of the environment is a life cycle assessment (LCA). In this paper we presents, as a case study, the results of an LCA analysis of milled rice production, from rice cultivation to the mill, in order to determine the environmental load of rice production. The results show that the global warming potential of rice production per kg was 2.9269E+03 gCO2-eq, followed by 3.1869 gSO2-eq of acidification and 12.896 gNO3-eq of eutrophication. In this study, 95% of the global warming inputs to the system are associated with the cultivation process, 2% with the harvesting process and 2% with the seeding and milling processes.