Agri-footprint

The world's leading source of environmental footprint data for the agri-food sector

Mérieux NutriSciences | Blonk developed the Agri-footprint database to provide a thorough and consistent life cycle inventory (LCI) database, which is required to advance sustainability in the agriculture and food sector.

Agri-footprint covers data on food, feed and agricultural intermediate products. The database facilitates transparency and enables key actors in the food system to reduce their environmental impact. 

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About the database

Since its release in 2014, various organizations have used Agri-footprint for applications such as product Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs), carbon footprinting, hotspot analysis, labeling schemes and implementation in sustainability software solutions and services.

Agri-footprint has been widely accepted by the food industry, the LCA community, the scientific community, and governmental institutions. Furthermore, many processes are modeled in alignment with the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) guidance of the European Commission. The database is developed using the ReCiPe Midpoint H (version 1.07, 2016) LCA method and three allocation methods can be applied: mass, energy, and economic allocation.

The data quality and coverage of Agri-footprint is improved with each release, and the database now contains approximately 5,000 products and processes. Agri-footprint is built using statistics, scientific literature, other databases and industry data coupled with Blonk's expert modeling. As such, it is a high-quality, reliable, and consistent database for its user base. 

Formats

XLSX, CSV, JSON, SimaPro CSV and openLCA .zolca

Uses

R+D, Scope 3 assessments, carbon footprinting, FLAG, product LCAs, etc. 

Integration

Easy integration into your data systems, tools, software and solutions

Agri-footprint FLAG and SBTi FLAG Guidance

We now offer an Agri-footprint version which complies to the SBTi FLAG Guidelines. Agri-footprint FLAG has been developed to facilitate users analyzing their GHG inventory to set FLAG targets as described in the SBTi FLAG Guidance.
> Learn more

Our data experts adapted the database to make it compliant with the FLAG Guidance. These adaptions include:

Land Use Change (LUC) impact is calculated using linear discounting, as described in the SBTi FLAG guidance

In contrast, the Agri-footprint 6.3 Land Use Change (LUC) emissions during cultivation are calculated using equal 20-year amortization, using PAS2050 methodology as described by PEF/GFLI standards. The difference in LUC accounting results in differences in LUC impact between the Agri-footprint 6.3 and Agri-footprint FLAG. More information can be found in the updated overarching Agri-footprint methodology reports.

GHG emissions from Land Management are reported separately

Land Management emissions include all direct emissions that take place on agricultural fields or farms (plant and start material cultivation and animal husbandry). The definition of Land Management emissions from the GHG Protocol Land Sector & Removal Guidance is applied. Please note that this guidance is still in draft form (final version expected in 2023), but it is expected that the final version will be aligned with the SBTi FLAG methodology.

Comparison Agri-footprint 6.3 and Agri-footprint FLAG

 

Agri-footprint 6.3 Agri-footprint FLAG
Methodology used ReCiPe 2016 EF 3.1
License Types Available

Research (starting from 580 EUR)  

Commercial (starting from 1,160 EUR)

Developer (starting from 17,400 EUR)

Research (starting from 755 EUR)

Commercial (starting from 1,510 EUR)

Developer (starting from 22,200 EUR)

License period Annual Annual
Contains Ecoinvent background data  Yes Yes
Number of items included 4800+ 4800+
Impact categories available Carbon Footprint + LUC Impact Only

All impact categories
Carbon Footprint + LUC Impact Only

All impact categories
Data levels available

Impact Result (Excel)

System Process (JSON)

Unit Process (JSON)

Impact Result (Excel)

System Process (JSON)

 

In SimaPro Yes Not yet, possibly in future 
In openLCA Yes Not yet, possibly in future 
Methodology documents Agri-footprint Methodology parts 1-3. Only Part 2 has been updated to include FLAG methodology explanation.  Agri-footprint Methodology parts 1-3. Only Part 2 has been updated to include FLAG methodology explanation. 

Agri-footprint licenses

Available on multiple platforms and in various formats

You can access Agri-footprint in various data types (Impact Result Level, System Process Level and Unit Process Level) and formats (Excel, CSV, JSON). The Impact Result Level contains the calculated environmental impacts of all products and processes using the ReCiPe 2016 midpoint (H) method, while the System Process and Unit Process Level are more detailed. All versions of Agri-footprint 6 contain some ecoinvent background data.

> More information on data types


Annual license options

  • Research license
    For academic or NGO use in research, reports, presentations, or teaching
  • Commercial license
    For single-user generation of multiple reports, presentations, and research & development
  • Developer license
    For multi-user generation of multiple reports, presentations, research & development, and integration within a tool, software, or service

Research license 

For academic or NGO use in research, reports, presentations, or teaching.

The following versions are available:

  • Carbon footprint (including Land Use Change)
    • Economic allocation
    • Economic, mass and energy allocation
  • All 19 impact categories
    • Economic allocation
    • Economic, mass and energy allocation

Up to 5 users per license
 
Data types

Impact Result Level, System Process Level, Unit Process Level


Commercial license

For single-user generation of multiple reports, presentations, and research & development, in a commercial setting. 

The following versions are available:

  • Carbon footprint (including Land Use Change)
    • Economic allocation
    • Economic, mass and energy allocation
  • All 19 impact categories
    • Economic allocation
    • Economic, mass and energy allocation

Single user
 
Data types

Impact Result Level, System Process Level, Unit Process Level


Developer license

For multi-user generation of multiple reports, presentations, research & development, and integration within a tool, software, or service. 

The following versions are available:

  • Carbon footprint (including Land Use Change)
    • Economic allocation
    • Economic, mass and energy allocation
  • All 19 impact categories
    • Economic allocation
    • Economic, mass and energy allocation

Multi-user
 
Data types

Impact Result Level, System Process Level, Unit Process Level

Also available in these Life Cycle Assessment software

SimaPro

SimaPro is a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) software package developed by PRé Sustainability. A license is needed to use SimaPro, coming with various databases, such as Agri-footprint.

In other words: Agri-footprint is available for free in the latest SimaPro version. 

openLCA

openLCA is freely available open-source software for LCAs and related life cycle analyses. GreenDelta initiated the development of this software.

Agri-footprint is available in openLCA as a paid database. Find more information on how to purchase Agri-footprint in the openLCA Nexus online LCA data repository.

Agri-footprint documentation

Methodology documents

There is only one overarching methodology report for Agri-footprint, which covers versions Agri-footprint 6.3 and Agri-footprint FLAG.

The methodology report of Agri-footprint contains background information on the methodology, calculation rules, and the data used to develop the data published in Agri-footprint.

The background report of Agri-footprint  includes three documents:

  • Part 1 describes the overall methodology and fundamental principles like allocation, system boundaries, reviews, and limitations of Agri-footprint;
  • Part 2 describes the data used to model the processes of Agri-footprint;
  • Part 3 includes a data comparison between Agri-footprint 5 and 6. 

Products in Agri-footprint 6
and Agri-footprint FLAG

Agri-footprint contains inventories of food, feed, and beverage-related ingredients.

The LCA database contains almost 5,000 products and processes, most of which are country-specific. Some examples:

  • Fertilizer products: calcium ammonium nitrate, urea, diammonium phosphate, NPK fertilizers
  • Vegetable oil and protein meal products: soybean oil, coconut oil, sunflower oil, palm oil
  • Sugar products: beet sugar, cane sugar
  • Starch products: maize starch, flour, potato starch, tapioca
  • Animal products: milk, cream, milk powder, beef, veal, broilers, pork, and egg
  • Marine ingredients: Fish meal and fish oil from whole fish and by-products

Bugs and issues

To us, transparency is essential in developing sustainable agri-food value chains. This is why we want to be open about all currently known bugs and issues in Agri-footprint, including our envisioned solution. Did you find a bug? Please report it to us.

FAQ

Do you have any other questions about Agri-footprint, such as its availability, carbon sequestration, land-use change, data quality, or how it deals with uncertainty? Please take a look at our Frequently Asked Questions section.

We need your feedback!
Agri-footprint Questionnaire

We're always striving to make our database the best it can be, and your input is invaluable to us. Therefore, we are interested in how you use Agri-footprint, what you value most about it and where you see opportunities for improvement. Your insights can help shape its future.

Please take a moment (less than 10 minutes) to complete our questionnaire and share your thoughts and ideas for the development Agri-footprint. Your input is incredibly valuable, and we appreciate your contribution. Thank you!

Customer Q&A

Generating SBTi and GHG Protocol corporate footprints in under 4 weeks using Agri-footprint FLAG

We love hearing from our customers about how Agri-footprint has impacted their work. For this Q&A, we spoke with Felipe Daguila, Chief Customer Officers at Terrascope, about their experience using Agri-footprint FLAG. Terrascope is a Singapore-based smart carbon measurement and management SaaS platform.

In this Q&A you will learn how Agri-footprint FLAG helped Terrascope to unlock a new offering for their land-intensive clients. Thanks to our database, they were able to generate speedy and precise corporate footprints for their clients, in alignment with SBTi FLAG guidance and the GHG Protocol Land Sectors Removals guidance.

Keep reading to discover Terrascope's story and see how Agri-footprint FLAG could help your organization expand your offering. 

news

New Agri-footprint FLAG version compliant to the SBTi FLAG Guidelines

Our data experts are always looking for ways to enrich Blonk's Agri-footprint database and keep it valuable for its users. Therefore, we are proud to announce a new version of Agri-footprint which complies with the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) Forest Land and Agriculture Guidance (FLAG). Agri-footprint FLAG will help the increasingly large group of organizations which set FLAG targets in analyzing their Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory.

News

Agri-footprint 6 now available

Our Agri-footprint database is an increasingly important source of information for experts working on environmental assessment of the agricultural value chain. These experts represent key stakeholders from the private sector, the scientific community, and governmental authorities, who are unified in their mission of building a more sustainable future. As such, we are excited and proud to announce that the newest version of Agri-footprint is here to enable that mission. There are many additions to this update, but most notably a large expansion of animal production systems.

Related to Agri-footprint

Agri-footprint Branded Data Add-ons

Agri-footprint branded data are brand-specific add-ons to the Agri-footprint database. While Agri-footprint also contains a wide range of general data on agricultural commodities, branded data is company or brand-specific life cycle impact data. This branded data, disclosed by companies themselves and calculated based on primary data, helps companies make their products' environmental performance visible and share it with stakeholders.

Questions about Agri-footprint?

Get in touch

Jixin Liu
Sales and Customer Support Consultant

Please contact Jixin if you want more information on Agri-footprint and its uses, if you are interested in a license for multiple users, or want to include Agri-footprint in your own tool or software solution.