Abstract. Potato is a staple food crop and a most important agricultural commodity in Hamadan Province, Iran. However, the province is facing such problems as water scarcity, nitrate pollution, and plant disease epidemics. This study explored the environmental impact assessment of potato cropping systems in Hamadan Province, Iran. To this purpose, 8 agri-environmental indicators were used for the EIAs of 4 potato cropping systems. These indicators included environmental potential risk indicator for pesticides, water use efficiency, nitrogen leaching, CO 2 emission, energy use, biodiversity, golden potato cyst nematode, and land use. The 4 systems included traditional potato system, quasi-industrial potato system, industrial potato system, and government-promoted potato system and 5 groups of features were used to describe the mentioned systems: (1) irrigation methods; (2) seed placement; (3) machinery use; (4) agrochemical use; and (5) crops rotation. The results revealed that the traditional potato system had the lowest negative impact on the environment. Of the potato production systems studied, the government-promoted potato system, quasi-industrial potato system, and industrial potato system had successively fewer negative effects on the environment. Finally, some strategies are recommended for designing a new benchmark encompassing environmental thresholds using agri-environmental indicator scores and their relationships.
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