Comparison of the environmental performance of light mechanization and animal traction using a modular LCA approach

Cerutti, Alessandro Kim; Calvo, Angela; Bruun, Sander

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.09.027

Cited by 26 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Therefore, considering the difficulties that farms have in being competitive (high production costs, low negotiation power, small farm size), process innovation [75,76], and the aggregation of productive supply via forms of farmer association, could represent ways of improving profit margins [77][78][79][80][81]. The above highlights how a modernization and restructuring of the supply chain and a change of entrepreneurial strategies of farmers [82] appear necessary so as to favor a more sustainable economic development of farms [83][84][85].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Sustainability of Italian Greenhouse Cherry Tomato

et al. 2014

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Greenhouse tomato cultivation plays an important role in Sicily, being the primary production area in Italy, due to its favorable pedo-climatic conditions that permit extra-seasonal productions. In Sicily, more than half of greenhouse tomato production is derived from the Province of Ragusa on the southeastern coast, where especially cherry tomato typologies are cultivated. Over the last decade, the Ragusa Province has registered a decrease both in terms of greenhouse tomato area and harvested production due to several structural problems that would require restructuring of the tomato supply chain. Thus, since recognition of real costs and profitability of tomato growing is a vital issue, both from the perspective of the farm, as well as from that of the entrepreneur, the aim of this paper was to analyze the economic sustainability of Sicilian greenhouse cherry tomato cultivated in the Ragusa Province. In particular, an economic analysis on 30 representative farms was conducted in order to estimate production costs and profits of greenhouse cherry tomato. According to our results, the lack of commercial organization, which characterizes the small farms we surveyed, determines low contractual power for farmers and, consequently, low profitability.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Sustainability of Italian Greenhouse Cherry Tomato

et al. 2014

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“…For the quantification of the baseline emission scenario (first phase), a modular approach (Cerutti et al 2014a) was applied to divide the full catering service into relevant functional blocks and to simplify the modelling of the system. Four modules (food production; food transport; cooking, storage, and serving; and waste management) were identified and studied separately.…”

Section: Description Of the Research Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling, assessing, and ranking public procurement options for a climate-friendly catering service

Cerutti

Ardente

Contu³

et al. 2017

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose Several scientific papers and technical reports have discussed the role of green public procurement in the food sector. Different strategies for the restoration sector have been identified. However, there is not yet a common understanding of which policies could be the most efficient in reducing the global warming potential of the public restoration service. This paper assesses a set of procurement policies, ranking them according to their potential to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of public catering. Methods Eleven relevant green public procurement policies were identified from the literature. These are discussed in the context of a case study of the school catering service in the city of Turin (Italy). Initially, a life cycle approach is applied to a baseline scenario of the collective restoration system of the city, to quantify the quantity of greenhouse gases produced by the entire catering service (including all stages from the production of food to the management of waste from kitchens and canteens). Afterwards, the 11 policies were applied to the baseline scenario so that the potential improvement achieved by each policy could be quantified. Results and discussion The baseline scenario resulted in 1.67 kgCO 2 eq per average meal. The production of food dominates the global warming potential of the full service, being responsible for about 78% of the greenhouse gas emissions. Among the selected policies, a change in diet was the most effective (leading to a 32% reduction of the CO 2 eq emissions), followed by the adoption of improved food production practices (11% reduction) and the purchasing of certified green electricity (6% reduction). Conclusions The proposed method allows the assessment of procurement policies in the catering service by applying a simplified life cycle approach that considers all the stages of the process. Public authorities and other stakeholders could benefit from basing their decisions upon scientific evidence and avoiding the prioritisation of policies based on personal opinions or weak evidence. Uncertainties and areas for improvement in the method have been also identified for future investigation.

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“…In contrast, when comparing tractors and non-ruminant-based draught animal power, livestock reduced GHG emissions, for example, Cerutti et al (2014).…”

Section: Ghg Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The impacts of agricultural technology transitions have been widely studied within individual disciplines, for example, the economic implications of farm energy options at the macro-economic level (Pearson 1991;Musa and Bello 1993;Thomas 2000), and energy and the greenhouse gas (GHG) implications at the farm scale (Schramski et al 2013;Spugnoli and Dainelli 2013;Cerutti et al 2014;GathorneHardy et al 2016). However, the wide-reaching social, economic and physical impacts of technology transition requires a multi-disciplinary understanding of sustainability, yet there is a dearth of studies that combine primary data and interdisciplinary research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The sustainability of changes in agricultural technology: The carbon, economic and labour implications of mechanisation and synthetic fertiliser use

Gathorne‐Hardy

2016

Ambio

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New agricultural technologies bring multiple impacts which are hard to predict. Two changes taking place in Indian agriculture are a transition from bullocks to tractors and an associated replacement of manure with synthetic fertilisers. This paper uses primary data to model social, environmental and economic impacts of these transitions in South India. It compares ploughing by bullocks or tractors and the provision of nitrogen from manure or synthetic urea for irrigated rice from the greenhouse gas (GHG), economic and labour perspective. Tractors plough nine times faster than bullocks, use substantially less labour, with no significant difference in GHG emissions. Tractors are twice as costly as bullocks yet remain more popular to hire. The GHG emissions from manure-N paddy are 30 % higher than for urea-N, largely due to the organic matter in manure driving methane emissions. Labour use is significantly higher for manure, and the gender balance is more equal. Manure is substantially more expensive as a source of nutrients compared to synthetic nutrients, yet remains popular when available. This paper demonstrates the need to take a broad approach to analysing the sustainability impacts of new technologies, as trade-offs between different metrics are common.

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Comparison of the environmental performance of light mechanization and animal traction using a modular LCA approach

Cited by 26 publications

References 16 publications

Economic Sustainability of Italian Greenhouse Cherry Tomato

Economic Sustainability of Italian Greenhouse Cherry Tomato

Modelling, assessing, and ranking public procurement options for a climate-friendly catering service

The sustainability of changes in agricultural technology: The carbon, economic and labour implications of mechanisation and synthetic fertiliser use

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