Aurélie Wilfart

A systems-level understanding of livestock production and its environmental consequences is essential for informing sustainability transitions and evidence-based policy in Europe. While life cycle assessment (LCA) is widely applied in this context, the use of consequential LCA (CLCA), which aims to capture market-mediated and structural system responses, remains comparatively limited. This study provides a critical synthesis of CLCA applications in European livestock systems through a PRISMA-guided systematic literature review complemented by an expert workshop. Twenty-three studies met the inclusion criteria, spanning multiple livestock groups, regions, and modelling approaches. Scenario development was dominated by technical or management-oriented adjustments, with limited use of optimisation-based, narrative, or policy-driven frameworks capable of exploring transformative system changes. Inventory construction typically relied on Ecoinvent, supplemented where necessary by experimental datasets, expert elicitation, survey data, or outputs from economic models. Most studies focused on midpoint indicators, and although uncertainty analysis was commonly included, its implementation was inconsistent across studies. Overall, most of the reviewed CLCA applications remain focused on incremental improvements within existing systems, limiting their ability to assess the consequences of more profound system transitions. Key limitations include both methodological challenges (particularly in scenario formulation and the representation of system-wide responses) and data gaps, notably the limited availability of regionally specific inventory data for marginal processes and endpoint characterisation factors. We recommend that future CLCAs adopt more structured and forward-looking scenario development approaches, strengthen inventory construction through updated and localised datasets, and consider the incorporation of both midpoint and endpoint indicators, while clearly acknowledging the limitations of both approaches. In addition, the systematic application of sensitivity and scenario-based uncertainty analysis is essential for assessing robustness. Addressing these practical and methodological dimensions will enhance the contribution of CLCA to analysing sustainability transitions of European livestock systems.

Context: Mixed crop-livestock farms are increasingly recognized as a critical component of more sustainable agricultural systems. By integrating diverse types of production, these systems can increase soil health, reduce environmental impact, and boost farm resilience. However, determining their sustainability is difficult, particularly because many present approaches are inadequate to capture the complexity and diversity of mixed farming. Objectives: To fill these challenges, in this study, we created a novel multi-criteria evaluation framework that uses the DEXi approach to assess the sustainability of mixed dairy farms and test how different designs can encompass the complexity of mixed farming. Methods: We created two decision trees: DEXiMix_dim based on the traditional three sustainability pillars (environmental, economic, and social), and DEXiMix_prop based on system properties such as resilience, autonomy, and viability. Both models employed the same set of indicators, so we could directly compare how alternative tree architectures affected the findings. We also made a concerted effort to improve the assessment's social dimension, taking a quality-of-life approach to better reflect farmers' experiences and well-being.We evaluated the system in seven countries spread across Europe and South America. To represent local priorities, we collaborated with national experts to attribute weights to the indicators. Then, we performed simulations and sensitivity studies to analyse how changes in tree topology, indicator weightings, and utility functions affected the results.Results and conclusions: The property-based model produced a more balanced image across countries, and fine-tuning the utility functions improved the results' sensitivity and meaning. Significance: Our findings suggest that how the examination is constructed is critical—tree design can dramatically affect sustainability scores.

Futurs de l’élevage dans les systèmes agri-alimentaires - Prospectives et évaluation multicritère de scénarios - (EAN13 : 9782759240661)

Growing awareness of global challenges and increasing pressures on the farming sector, including the urgent requirement to rapidly cut greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, emphasize the need for sustainable production, which is particularly relevant for dairy production systems. Comparing dairy production systems across the three sustainability dimensions is a considerable challenge, notably due to the heterogeneity of production conditions in Europe. To overcome this, we developed an ex post multicriteria assessment tool that adopts a holistic approach across the three sustainability dimensions. This tool is based on the DEXi framework, which associates a hierarchical decision model with an expert perspective and follows a tree shaped structure; thus, we called it the DEXi-Dairy tool. For each dimension of sustainability, qualitative attributes were defined and organized in themes, sub-themes, and indicators. Their choice was guided by three objectives: (i) better describe main challenges faced by European dairy production systems, (ii) point out synergies and trade-offs across sustainability dimensions, and (iii) contribute to the identification of GHG mitigation strategies at the farm level. Qualitative scales for each theme, sub-theme, and indicator were defined together with weighting factors used to aggregate each level of the tree. Based on selected indicators, a list of farm data requirements was developed to populate the sustainability tree. The model was then tested on seven case study farms distributed across Europe. DEXi-Dairy presents a qualitative method that allows for the comparison of different inputs and the evaluation of the three sustainability dimensions in an integrated manner. By assessing synergies and trade-offs across sustainability dimensions, DEXi-Dairy is able to reflect the heterogeneity of dairy production systems. Results indicate that, while trade-offs occasionally exist among respective selected sub-themes, certain farming systems tend to achieve a higher sustainability score than others and hence could serve as benchmarks for further analyses.

A circular economy is considered one way to reduce environmental impacts of human activities, by more efficient use of resources and recovery, resulting in less waste and emissions compared to linear take‐make‐dispose systems. Muscat et al. developed five ecological principles to guide biomass use towards a circular economy. A few studies have demonstrated environmental benefits of applying these principles to land‐based food systems, but to date, these principles have not been explored in aquaculture. The current study expands on these principles and provides a narrative review to (i) translate them to aquaculture, while identifying implications for the main species and production systems, and (ii) identify the main pathways to make aquaculture more circular. We show that the underlying concepts of the ‘safeguard’, ‘entropy’, and ‘recycle’ principles have been well researched and sometimes well implemented. In contrast, the ‘avoid’ and ‘prioritise’ principles have been explored much less; doing so would provide an opportunity to decrease environmental impacts of aquaculture at the food‐system level. One example is prioritising the production of species that contribute to food and nutrition security, have low environmental impacts and thinking at wider food system scale to avoid feed‐food competition in aquaculture. We identified six priorities that could make aquaculture more circular: (i) increase production and demand for the most essential species, (ii) decrease food loss and waste at farm and post‐harvest stages, (iii) support nutrient recycling practices at multiple scales, (iv) adapt aquafeed formulations, (v) inform consumers about benefits of species of low trophic levels and other environmentally friendly aquatic foods, and (vi) address urgent research gaps.