Producing biogas from energy cover crops in France: Potential production and agro-environmental impacts
Abstract
Anaerobic digestion produces renewable energy such as biogas to replace fossil one. Cover crops are an interesting resource without competing for food production while producing some ecosystem services. We assessed the potential of cover crops to produce energy in France at high resolution and their agro-environmental impacts. We used a modelling chain of four models to simulate the cropping systems and the biogas plant. We designed and simulated over 30 years the baseline and three scenarios: (i) multi-service cover crops, (ii) energy cover crop insertion and (iii) energy cover crop extension. Over the 13.9 Mha simulated, it modified 11.0 Mha for the two formers and 13.6 Mha for the latter, representing 4.0-6.8 Mha.yr -1 against 1.6 in the baseline. Cover crop biomass could provide 4.4-31.1 Mt.yr -1 , mainly based on winter cover crops, or 17-115 TWh.yr -1 of gas (4-27% of the consumption in 2021). Winter cover crops reduced spring crop yields, between 7% and 17%. The greenhouse gas balance was improved in all scenarios, despite higher N 2 O emissions and for the energy cover crops, higher mineral fertilizer consumption and volatilization. This positive effect was obtained thanks to carbon storage and fossil gas substitution, the latter having a stronger impact. Finally, drainage was reduced while irrigation was increased while nitrate leaching was surprisingly not much impacted. Cover crops are a promising resource to combine renewable energy production and positive environmental impacts as long as they are applied to avoid food competition and water consumption impact.
Related
- The potential of seafood to mitigate environmental impacts through diet choices
- Urbanization Impacts the Environmental Microbial Community and Its Antibiotic Phenotypic Resistance Potential by Reshaping the Diversity and Network Complexity
- Apple production under changing climate conditions in major producing countries
- Risk Characterization for a Multi‐Pathway Quantitative Risk Assessment Model: A Case Study on Extended‐Spectrum Beta‐Lactamas Producing E. coli Spread From Broiler Production
- Long-term dissemination of NDM-producing Enterobacterales in two French hospitals (2020–2024): outbreak complexity and the role of drains as environmental reservoirs
BibTeX
@article{launay2026producing,
title = {{Producing biogas from energy cover crops in France: Potential production and agro-environmental impacts}},
author = {Camille Launay and Sabine Houot and Vincent Jean-Baptiste and Hélène Raynal and Julie Constantin},
journal = {European Journal of Agronomy},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.eja.2026.128360},
url = {https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05795123v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Producing biogas from energy cover crops in France: Potential production and agro-environmental impacts
AU - Camille Launay
AU - Sabine Houot
AU - Vincent Jean-Baptiste
AU - Hélène Raynal
AU - Julie Constantin
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/12
JO - European Journal of Agronomy
DO - 10.1016/j.eja.2026.128360
UR - https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05795123v1
AB - Anaerobic digestion produces renewable energy such as biogas to replace fossil one. Cover crops are an interesting resource without competing for food production while producing some ecosystem services. We assessed the potential of cover crops to produce energy in France at high resolution and their agro-environmental impacts. We used a modelling chain of four models to simulate the cropping systems and the biogas plant. We designed and simulated over 30 years the baseline and three scenarios: (i) multi-service cover crops, (ii) energy cover crop insertion and (iii) energy cover crop extension. Over the 13.9 Mha simulated, it modified 11.0 Mha for the two formers and 13.6 Mha for the latter, representing 4.0-6.8 Mha.yr -1 against 1.6 in the baseline. Cover crop biomass could provide 4.4-31.1 Mt.yr -1 , mainly based on winter cover crops, or 17-115 TWh.yr -1 of gas (4-27% of the consumption in 2021). Winter cover crops reduced spring crop yields, between 7% and 17%. The greenhouse gas balance was improved in all scenarios, despite higher N 2 O emissions and for the energy cover crops, higher mineral fertilizer consumption and volatilization. This positive effect was obtained thanks to carbon storage and fossil gas substitution, the latter having a stronger impact. Finally, drainage was reduced while irrigation was increased while nitrate leaching was surprisingly not much impacted. Cover crops are a promising resource to combine renewable energy production and positive environmental impacts as long as they are applied to avoid food competition and water consumption impact.
SN - 1161-0301
SN - 1873-7331
ER -