Economic and ecological decision support for plant production procedures

The ability to ensure sustainable agriculture between economic pressure and ecological demands depends on a solid and sufficient data base for the dec ision-making and to provide the proof for ecological sound management. Main characteristics of such a data base are detailed economic and detailed eco logical information about the conducted production procedures. Therefore a computer-supported programme was developed to calculate the necessary infor mation. The objective of the model is to calculate the economic as well as the environmental impact of plant production procedures. In an interactive process, the user defines the location-specific available plant production procedures. Farm equipment and natural conditions are included. The economi cs are calculated in the classical way of gross margin analysis and an exte nded gross margin analysis. Labour demand of the designed plant production procedure is evaluated in total as well as per work procedure. Process chai n analyses are included to measure the environmental impact of production p rocedures. A focus is given to the primary energy demand as well as to emis sions being relevant for eutrophication, greenhouse effect and acidificatio n.