Searchable dataset on state-of-the-art agricultural greenhouse gas mitigation measures detailing their potential contribution to emissions abatement and existing gaps in knowledge

This comprehensive dataset presents the quality-controlled (QC) results of a systematic review based on peer-reviewed literature and relevant ‘grey’ reports to address the question ’can the agricultural sector in the UK reduce, or offset, its direct agricultural emissions based on existing evidence?’. We considered the different implications of mitigation measures in terms of food security, energy, environmental degradation, and value for money related to the mitigation measures.
To do so, we followed the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence (CEE) guidelines to create our systematic review. The search included different online scientific databases (e.g., Web of Science Core Collection; Scopus) and specialist websites of relevant UK organisations (e.g., Department for Environment and Rural affairs (Defra) (http://defra.gov.uk/); National Farmers' Union (NFU) (https://www.nfuonline.com/)). We used the search terms within three categories (activity (e.g., ‘arable crops’, ‘pasture’), intervention (e.g., ‘practice’, ‘measure’), and outcome (e.g., ‘carbon footprint’, ‘greenhouse gas emissions’), which were combined using the Boolean operator “OR”. However, we combined the three categories into a search string using the Boolean operator “AND”. The temporal boundary of the literature search included relevant data published between 2017 and 2022. The geographic boundary focussed on UK-specific literature; however, studies which covered global scale, including the UK, were also considered and only UK related data was assessed.
Article screening was evaluated for relevance based on the eligibility criteria at three levels: title, abstract and full text, using the systematic review software Rayan. Eligible studies were subject to a critical appraisal. We assessed study validity and categorised relevant studies as “validated”, “not validated” and “unclear validity” (the latter could also be considered ‘inconclusive’). Validity criteria included both susceptibility to bias (internal validity: study design, strength of evidence and reliability/replicability) and relevance of the study for our review questions (external validity). A study was categorised to be ‘unclear’ if it did not report sufficient details to judge its validity (e.g., vague methodological description or it is difficult to interpret the efficacy of the mitigation measure). We retained 53 relevant studies covering several agricultural management practices and technologies which can be deployed on farms, in order to help mitigate climate change.
This novel, open access dataset can inform scientists and policymakers on state-of-the-art GHG-related studies and guide funding bodies to target areas which need urgent attention. Further, it gives agri-food sustainability experts a platform to explore each promising mitigation measure in further detail through, for example, scenario-based Life Cycle Assessments of ‘cradle-to-farmgate’ systems.

本综合数据集呈现了一项基于同行评审文献与相关灰色文献报告开展的系统综述（systematic review）的质量控制（QC）结果，旨在解答以下问题：基于现有证据，英国农业部门能否减少或抵消其直接农业温室气体排放？本研究同时考量了减排措施在粮食安全、能源、环境退化以及成本效益层面的不同影响。为此，本研究遵循环境证据协作组（Collaboration for Environmental Evidence, CEE）的指南开展本次系统综述。本次检索覆盖了多个在线科学数据库（如Web of Science核心合集、Scopus）以及英国相关机构的专业网站（如环境与农村事务部（Department for Environment and Rural Affairs, Defra，http://defra.gov.uk/）、全国农民联盟（National Farmers' Union, NFU，https://www.nfuonline.com/））。本次检索采用三类检索词：活动类（如‘旱作作物’‘牧场’）、干预类（如‘实践’‘措施’）与结果类（如‘碳足迹（carbon footprint）’‘温室气体排放（greenhouse gas emissions）’），同类检索词间以布尔运算符（Boolean operator）"OR"连接；而三类检索词之间则以布尔运算符（Boolean operator）"AND"组合为完整检索式。文献检索的时间范围限定为2017年至2022年发表的相关文献；地理范围则聚焦于英国本土文献，但涵盖英国在内的全球尺度研究也被纳入考量，最终仅评估与英国相关的数据。本研究采用系统综述软件Rayan，从标题、摘要、全文三个层级，基于纳入排除标准对文献的相关性进行筛选。符合标准的研究将接受严格质量评价。研究团队对研究的有效性进行评估，并将相关研究划分为"有效""无效"与"有效性不明"三类（后者也可视为"结论不确定"）。有效性评价标准涵盖偏倚风险（susceptibility to bias），即内部有效性（internal validity）：研究设计、证据强度与可靠性/可重复性（reliability/replicability），以及研究与本次综述问题的相关性，即外部有效性（external validity）。若研究未提供足够细节以判断其有效性（如方法学描述模糊，或难以阐释减排措施的效果），则将其划分为"有效性不明"类别。最终本研究纳入53项相关研究，涵盖可在农场应用的多种农业管理实践与技术，以助力气候变化减缓。本数据集为新型开放获取（open access）资源，可为科研人员与政策制定者提供温室气体（Greenhouse Gas, GHG）相关前沿研究参考，并指导资助机构聚焦亟需关注的领域。此外，本数据集还为农业食品可持续性（agri-food sustainability）专家提供了平台，使其可通过例如"从摇篮到农场端"系统的情景化生命周期评价（Life Cycle Assessment, LCA），对各项具应用前景的减排措施开展更深入的探索。