A Comparative Analysis of On-Farm Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Family Farms in Lithuania

The aim of paper is a comparative analysis of on-farm greenhouse gas emissions across family farm types and farm size classes using FADN data in Lithuania. To achieve this, Lithuanian FADN data of 2014 were used for the analysis. The research draws on a sample of 1304 family farms. The methodology is based on an adaptation of the IPCC guidelines using Lithuanian emission factors from Lithuania’s National Inventory Report and the activity data of family farms derived from Lithuanian FADN. The GHG emissions were analysed per farm (t CO_2eq farm^-1) and per hectare (CO_2eq ha^-1 of UAA). The research found out that the major sources of GHG emissions are related to the use of chemical fertilizers on farms comprising 52.6% of the total emissions from family farms. The performed analysis shows that GHG emissions per farm depended on the farm size and ranged from 63.3 t CO_2eq farm^-1 to 479.6 t CO_2eq farm^-1, on farm size class less than 30 ha UAA and from 500 ha UAA or over, respectively. The GHG emissions on family farms totalled 184.2 t CO_2eq farm^-1 and ranged from 5.8 t CO_2eq farm^-1 to 234.6 t CO_2eq farm^-1, in the permanent crops farms and in the specialist dairying farms, respectively.

Key words: GHG emissions; FADN; farming type; family farms.

Dabkienė, V. 2017. A comparative analysis of on-farm greenhouse gas emissions from family farms in Lithuania, In Annual 23^rd international scientific conference “Research for rural development 2017”; The annual 22^nd international scientific conference proceedings, in Jelgava, on 17 to 19 May 2017. Jelgava : Latvia University of Agriculture, Vol. 2, p. 225-232. DOI:10.22616/rrd.23.2017.072 ISSN 1691-4031. ONLINE ISSN 2255-923X [AGRIS; CAB ABSTRACTS; CABI full text; EBSCO Academic Search Complete; Web of Science ™, Clarivate Analytics (former Thomson Reuters); Thomson Reuters Elsevier SCOPUS].