NESTT – development of an online, life cycle-based sustainability assessment and management platform for Canadian egg farmers

Abstract

The National Environmental Sustainability and Technology Tool (NESTT) is an online, farm-level, sustainability decision support tool developed for Canadian egg farmers. Its primary objectives include estimating the environmental impacts of egg production, aiding farmers in analyzing promising green technologies, and offering decision support features such as benchmarking. The tool was developed using an ISO 14044-compliant Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework, incorporating findings from previous LCA studies within the Canadian egg industry. NESTT employs one tonne of eggs as the functional unit, defines system boundaries from cradle-to-farm gate, and bases co-product allocation on feed energy utilization. The primary inventory data collected in NESTT focuses exclusively on layer facilities, while inventory data for other foreground processes, feed inputs, and background processes is sourced from either previous Canadian LCA studies or third-party inventory databases. Overall impacts are determined by aggregating the impact assessment results of six modules: pullets, feed, energy inputs, water, manure management, and transportation. After assessing their farm’s environmental performance, farmers can explore the potential for mitigating impacts by adopting green technologies such as solar/wind energy generation. As the first LCA-based, multi criteria, environmental assessment tool developed in the Canadian agri-food industry and the first decision support tool of its kind developed for the egg industry, NESTT can readily be adapted for use in egg industries worldwide and even across other livestock sectors.