Energy-Environmental Impact Assessment of Greenhouse Grown Tomato: A Case Study in Almeria (Spain)

Abstract

Tomato is one of the most common crops across the world, but it is also one of the types of food that generates the most losses across its life cycle. This paper addresses this issue by providing a Life Cycle Analysis of greenhouse grown tomato in southern Spain. The results confirm that tomatoes are a thirsty and frail crop. Most of its energy demands and carbon emissions go to packaging (35%) and transportation (42%) as well as supplying water for their growth. There seems to be room for improvement in the recovery of energy (54.6%) and CO2 emissions, mainly addressing the waste treatment of packaging and plastic as well as improving transportation. Despite being highly water demanding, irrigation processes are already efficient in industrial greenhouses, and most of the water recovery will need to take place in the waste recovery stage. Food losses at the consumption phases do not constitute a significant loss in energy or a significant amount of carbon emissions saved.

Tomatoes from the desert: Environmental footprints and sustainability potential in a changing world

“…The WF in the present study reflects a disadvantage of desert agriculture, as high temperatures, evaporation, and soil salinization require excessive irrigation. Nevertheless, the WF blue estimates for local tomato (85-116 m 3 /t −1 ) found to be within the wide-range greenhouse tomato's water intake found in previous studies (e.g., Chapagain and Orr, 2009;Almeida et al, 2014;Bojacá et al, 2014;Del Borghi et al, 2014;Garofalo et al, 2017;Hueso-Kortekaas et al, 2021). Using only drip irrigation (i.e., advanced technology), an optimal irrigation method in drylands (e.g., Chukalla et al, 2015;Hu et al, 2021), the local WF is not as high as it could be.…”

“…Packaging materials and empty containers, bottles and other plastic items contributed to the volume of waste (SWF) but had little impact on the CF (e.g., Torrellas et al, 2012;Liu et al, 2019) due to rigorous waste management practices in the region. Yet, the SWF can be further reduced, for example, by minimizing food losses due to aesthetic parameters (e.g., Hueso-Kortekaas et al, 2021) and setting effective organic waste management methods.…”

“…The same principle applies to other materials that can and should be cleaner and in smaller amounts. Especially since large quantities of (any) inputs result in a lot of solid waste for packaging and require many and frequent road transports to and from farms, which means higher fuel consumption (Figure 4) and GHG emissions (e.g., Hueso-Kortekaas et al, 2021). The latter highlights the need for alternative, "greener" modes of transport, like trains and clean energy vehicles (Hueso-Kortekaas et al, 2021) and ways to minimize unnecessary travel associated with agricultural activities in the remote marginal, desert, and nondesert regions.…”

“…Especially since large quantities of (any) inputs result in a lot of solid waste for packaging and require many and frequent road transports to and from farms, which means higher fuel consumption (Figure 4) and GHG emissions (e.g., Hueso-Kortekaas et al, 2021). The latter highlights the need for alternative, "greener" modes of transport, like trains and clean energy vehicles (Hueso-Kortekaas et al, 2021) and ways to minimize unnecessary travel associated with agricultural activities in the remote marginal, desert, and nondesert regions. Maritime transport was found to contribute less to environmental impacts, and international shipping distance (i.e., food miles) does not necessarily mean a larger footprint, an idea that has been discussed before (e.g., Carlsson-Kanyama, 1998;Coley et al, 2011;Kissinger, 2012;Kissinger et al, 2019;Muñoz Torres et al, 2022).…”

Microclimatic Evaluation of Five Types of Colombian Greenhouses Using Geostatistical Techniques

“…In terms of sustainability of the production systems, it is important to mention that all the disadvantages discussed in this research work, together with the scientific evidence that has proven the negative environmental impact loads generated by the existing production systems in places where large concentrations of greenhouses are established, have led to a significant reduction in the environmental impact of the production systems [ 50 , 61 ]. They provide a great opportunity for the search for sustainable strategies in the local context to be implemented in Colombian protected agriculture.…”