A life cycle assessment of non-renewable energy use and greenhouse gas emissions associated with blueberry and raspberry production in northern Italy

Girgenti, Vincenzo; Peano, Cristiana; Bounous, Michele; Baudino, Claudio

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.04.060

Cited by 43 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…The LCA was used to assess the consumption of natural resources and the environmental impacts associated with the production and storage of blueberries [65,[69][70][71].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blueberry Supply Chain in Italy: Management, Innovation and Sustainability

et al. 2017

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Abstract:The growing trend market of fresh products is driven by a consumer oriented to new lifestyles and environmental issues. The berries market in Europe represents a good example of a consumer driven supply chain, due to the capacity to answer all the sequences of the system. To explore the process developed by fruit growers' associated groups in Italy, the research is organized into four stages. The first stage provides a review of the organization of the fresh fruit supply chain (FFSC) and the need to innovate it in light of the driven demand. The second section focuses on the innovation displayed towards storing, managing and maintaining the quality of fruit during the supply. The third section considers the case study. The manuscript concludes by summarising the main results and discussing the implications for future research. The use of a modified active packaging system (MAP) with "green" films has enabled the maintenance of the quality of the fruits for two months, as well as the presence of the company blueberries market for longer periods, and has finally led to improving the exports, thus reaching new European countries, increasing the turnover of the associated group and better remuneration for the fruit growers as a consequence.

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“…The LCA was used to assess the consumption of natural resources and the environmental impacts associated with the production and storage of blueberries [65,[69][70][71].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blueberry Supply Chain in Italy: Management, Innovation and Sustainability

et al. 2017

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“…The life cycle assessment (LCA) is a methodology to identify quantitatively the environmental impacts of energy and materials, as well as waste and emissions in products, processes, or activities during its lifetime [1]. LCA applied in agricultural systems are continually increasing due to environmental impacts related to agricultural activities such as water consumption [2]; land conversion with its associated loss of biodiversity [3]; the use of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides [4][5][6]; and energy use [7]. In a methodological framework, the carbon footprint (CF) is a subset of the indicators covered by the LCA methodology [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon Footprint Assessment of Sweet Cherry Production: Hotspots and Improvement Options

Bravo¹,

López²,

Vásquez³

et al. 2017

Pol. J. Environ. Stud.

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The carbon footprint (CF) evaluates the overall amount of greenhouse gas emissions and removals associated with a product or activity across its life cycle. Today, the CF assessment has the potential to be a key measurement for increasing sustainable agricultural production. In addition, the export-oriented fruit sector has been challenged to quantify and reduce their CF. Worldwide there are scant peer-review studies that examine the CF of stone fruits (Prunus genus). The scarcity is most evident in sweet cherries, which is the third most exported stone fruit in the world in terms of value (after almonds and peaches). Chile is the largest southern hemisphere producer and exporter of sweet cherry fruit. Within this context, the present study is one of the first assessments of the CF of conventional sweet cherry production. This work considers Chilean agricultural practices and identifies key influencing factors (hotspots). It takes into account the following agricultural inputs: mineral fertilizers, pesticides, diesel consumption for agricultural operations, machinery, and electricity for irrigation. The results indicate that the average CF of the Chilean sweet cherry production is 0.41 kg CO 2 -eq/kg of harvested fruit, with a 95% confidence interval between 0.36 and 0.47 kg CO 2 -eq/kg. This value is higher than those for other stone fruits reported by the literature. Diesel and fertilizers are the most important contributors to the CF of sweet cherry cultivation. Improvement scenarios are evaluated for the hotspots in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the production of this fruit. This study provides quantitative environmental criteria associated with global warming concerns to the stakeholders in the fruit sector and to the agricultural policymakers.

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“…This situation reflects the outcome of numerous life cycle assessment (LCA) studies in fruit and vegetable species where the greenhouse structure is considered [26,48]. This protection is essential for Actinidia in order to guarantee high-quality production and to protect the plant against stress in case of hailstorms according to Muller et al (2015) [46] chain (field and warehouse systems).…”

Section: Lcia Field Production Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The LCA method has also been successfully applied in farming and agri-food systems [25][26][27][28].…”

Section: Lca Goal and Scopementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In our case, we based our selection of impact categories on literature [26,31,32] and focused our analysis on global warming potential (GWP) according to the Intergovernamental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC GWP 100a kg CO 2 eq), and non-renewable energy (MJ primary). The choice of these impact categories was related to the need of providing an impact evaluation of the examined production in relation to climate change that can be readily communicated and understood by stakeholders.…”

Section: Life Cycle Impact Assessment (Lcia)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Integrated Methodologies (SWOT, TOWS, LCA) for Improving Production Chains and Environmental Sustainability of Kiwifruit and Baby Kiwi in Italy

et al. 2017

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Abstract:Italy's kiwifruit growers are considered to be world-leading players of the past 20 years. However, with this success come its challenges. In the last five years, a bacterial canker of kiwifruit known as Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa) has caused a dramatic reduction in the size of the areas cultivated, leading to several experienced Piedmontese Actinidia deliciosa growers beginning to cultivate the A. arguta. To better understand the potential for replacing the common kiwifruit in Italy's Piedmont region with plantations of A. arguta and to attain a systematic approach and support for decision situations; we assessed the environmental impact of the two production chains (field and storage) from a technical-operational perspective. The assessment was conducted through interviews with producers, field and warehouse technicians and sales managers in order to reveal the strengths and weaknesses of the two systems. The work presented below considers the application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method for the field system (two different phases of the plantation) and the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis for the entire supply chain (field and warehouse management). Finally, a TOWS analysis (Threats, Opportunities, Weakness, Strengths) integrated the results of both LCA and SWOT analyses and permitted to highlight the development strategies for A. arguta in Piedmont. The total orchard cycle for A. arguta presents an impact of 0.14 kg CO 2 eq (GWP) and for A. deliciosa an impact of 0.11 kg CO 2 eq (GWP). Based on the synthesis of results from our TOWS analysis, we identified the following development strategies to help to shape the future A. arguta supply chain in Piedmont: Large-scale oriented; Berry fruits oriented; Export and organic oriented and Niche oriented.

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A life cycle assessment of non-renewable energy use and greenhouse gas emissions associated with blueberry and raspberry production in northern Italy

Cited by 43 publications

References 25 publications

Blueberry Supply Chain in Italy: Management, Innovation and Sustainability

Blueberry Supply Chain in Italy: Management, Innovation and Sustainability

Carbon Footprint Assessment of Sweet Cherry Production: Hotspots and Improvement Options

Integrated Methodologies (SWOT, TOWS, LCA) for Improving Production Chains and Environmental Sustainability of Kiwifruit and Baby Kiwi in Italy

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