ADEME and INRAE invite data users to contribute to the improvement and enrichment of the database
The AGRIBAYSE® program is part of a process of ongoing improvement, following scientific advances, and enriched with projects carried out by partners.
On September 29th, 2021, the REVALIM Scientific Interest Group (for Network for the Evaluation of Agricultural and Food Products) was created by the 4 members INRAE, ADEME, ACTA and ACTIA. A partnership had already existed since 2009 around the AGRIBALYSE® program, which enabled the construction of methodologies and a reference database of the environmental impacts of agricultural and food products.
Today AGRIBALYSE® faces major challenges relating to the use of data by expert and non-expert users, the updating and development of transparent and quality data scientifically validated over time, as well as expanding and perpetuating the database according to terms to be defined.
There is also a broad expectation from the community of users and scientists on improving the coverage of potential environmental impacts by environmental assessment methods.
Within the Scientific Interest Group REVALIM, the 4 founding members joined by 11 Technical Institutes, aim to:
Ensure a role of scientific animation
Improve LCA assessment methods so as to include dimensions that are currently insufficiently taken into account (biodiversity, toxicity, carbon storage in soils, change in land use, etc.)
Enhance this knowledge by producing data and tools that can contribute to the eco-design of agricultural and food products and to consumer information
Sustaining a scientific network around environmental assessment of agricultural and food products.
The SIG REVALIM roadmap 2021-2026 describes the work priorities for the coming years.
The data improvement process for future releases will necessarily rely on user feedbacks.
There are several ways to contribute:
Improved methodologies for calculating indicators, through specific R&D work (for example on carbon storage / destocking in soils), consistent with international work
Proposals for corrections and improvement of existing data. AGRIBALYSE® database mobilizes many hypotheses. Specific elements have already been identified to be refined in subsequent versions. Users are invited to notify us of any proposed changes relating to identified errors or proposed improvements to the assumptions relating to existing data. To do this, you can send an email to the Agribalyse support service at the address: agribalyse@ademe.fr
Proposals for integrating new data. Users are encouraged to propose the integration of new data: new versions of existing products (products under labels for example), integration of missing products (eg mushrooms), integration of missing agro-industrial processes (eg frying, freezing ), new recipe missing,... To do this, you can send an email to the Agribalyse support service at the address: agribalyse@ademe.fr
AGRIBALYSE is a database providing data on generic products, and it is intended to remain so. Thus, the database aims to enrich the product variations allowing to highlight the differences of impacts related to different production systems, processing or packaging (organic products versus conventional products, glass bottle versus bottle plastic, etc.). But, it is not intended to distinguish products from different brands.
ADEME, INRAE and their partners, however, encourage companies to produce their own data, in the context of eco-design projects in particular, by respecting the AGRIBALYSE® methodology, so that their data is comparable with that, generic, of the database.