Energy Life-Cycle Assessment of Fruit Products—Case Study of Beira Interior’s Peach (Portugal)

Gaspar, João Pires; Gaspar, Pedro Dinis; Silva, Pedro Dinho da; Simões, Maria Paula; Santo, Christophe Espírito

doi:10.3390/su10103530

Cited by 15 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…There are many LCA studies of peach using several impact categories and functional units (FUs) (e.g., Ingrao et al 2015 (FU, 1 ha of peach orchard); De Menna et al 2015 (1 L of peach nectar); Vinyes et al 2017 (production of 1 kg of peach); Pires Gaspar et al 2018 (1 ha or 1 t of peach)). Additionally, there are LCA studies of food-packaging systems considering food loss.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life cycle assessment of peach transportation considering trade-off between food loss and environmental impact

Sasaki

Orikasa

Nakamura

et al. 2021

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose We evaluated the environmental impacts of the peach transportation process using life cycle assessment with the damage area ratio as an indicator to assess both food loss and the environmental burden. A hot spot analysis was also conducted to identify the most relevant impact categories and processes in the peach life cycle. Methods The environmental burden of the peach life cycle was assessed by using a mass-based functional unit (kg of undamaged peaches). The environmental impact of the packaging scenario (using plastic packaging and cardboard during transportation) in the peach life cycle was compared with that of the nonpackaging scenario (using cardboard only). Vibration tests for transportation were performed for several transportation distances to determine the damage area ratios. An impact assessment of the characterization and a calculation of single score results were followed by LIME2, and 15 impact categories were investigated. Results and discussionThe packaging scenario had lower environmental impacts than the nonpackaging scenario, and the climate change (CC), resource consumption (RC), and urban air pollution (UAP) impacts in the packaging scenario were reduced by up to 94.1% compared with those in the nonpackaging scenario. Packaging decreased food losses related to injury during transportation; in turn, it also mitigated the environmental burden of additional peach cultivation to compensate for food losses. The results of the hot spot analysis indicated that cultivation, package production, peach waste (due to food loss), and transportation from a fruit sorting facility to the wholesale market stage largely formed the life cycle, with the cultivation stage accounting for the largest portion of the cycle (contribution ratios 36.4 to 89.4%). ConclusionThis study shows that packaging can potentially reduce the environmental impacts of peach production; notably, using packaging for peaches effectively decreases the environmental burden of the peach life cycle. This finding suggests that considering the trade-offs between food loss and the environmental burden associated with the peach life cycle is important for achieving a sustainable postharvest process for peaches from an environmental perspective.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life cycle assessment of peach transportation considering trade-off between food loss and environmental impact

Sasaki

Orikasa

Nakamura

et al. 2021

Int J Life Cycle Assess

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Regarding the agri-food sector, Carrasquer et al [16] created a new indicator to estimate the water and energy efficiency in agro-industries based on life-cycle thinking methodologies. Skunca et al [17] performed the LCA of the chicken meat chain to estimate the cumulative energy demand (CED), while Pires-Gaspar et al [18] carried out an energy-LCA of Portuguese peach production using energy efficiency indicators.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Energy and Environmental Efficiency of the Spanish Agri-Food System Using the LCA/DEA Methodology

et al. 2018

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Feeding the world’s population sustainably is a major challenge of our society, and was stated as one of the key priorities for development cooperation by the European Union (EU) policy framework on food security. However, with the current trend of natural resource exploitation, food systems consume around 30% of final energy use, generating up to 30% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Given the expected increase of global population (nine billion people by 2050) and the amount of food losses and waste generated (one-third of global food production), improving the efficiency of food systems along the supply chain is essential to ensure food security. This study combines life-cycle assessment (LCA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) to assess the efficiency of Spanish agri-food system and to propose improvement actions in order to reduce energy usage and GHG emissions. An average energy saving of approximately 70% is estimated for the Spanish agri-food system in order to be efficient. This study highlights the importance of the DEA method as a tool for energy optimization, identifying efficient and inefficient food systems. This approach could be adopted by administrations, policy-makers, and producers as a helpful instrument to support decision-making and improve the sustainability of agri-food systems.

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“…For the rest of the environmental impact indicators, it was used 1 kg of produced cherry as a mass-based FU. This choice is aligned with the option of Gaspar et al [27].…”

Section: Functional Unitmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Orchard Cultural Practices during the Productive Process of Cherries through Life Cycle Assessment

2021

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This study describes the influence of orchard cultural practices during the productive process of cherries on the environmental impact in terms of energy, air, soil and water through a “farm to market” Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The results were used to identify the orchard cultural practices that contribute significantly to the environmental impact and to find solutions to reduce those impacts, serving as best practices guide to improving the environmental performance and as benchmarks for other national and international cherry and fruit growers. Primary data for production, harvest and post-harvest periods were gathered experimentally. The openLCA 1.10.2 software and the ecoinvent 3.5 database were used for modelling. Test case scenarios are modelled to identify the influence of cultural practices in low and high cherry production campaigns depending on climatic conditions and consequently diseases and plagues. Moreover, results are compared with other studies, not only covering cherries but also other fruits. The energy consumption per hectare in the production phase is similar in test scenarios. The energy consumption of orchard cultural practices related to tractor use, fertilizers and fungicides application are the main hotspots in terms of global warming, freshwater ecotoxicity and eutrophication, and terrestrial acidification. The use of electric vehicles, change the warehouse location or redefine transportation routes can reduce this impact, along with the optimization of the cherry’s quantity transported in each trip. In addition, the use of plant protection products, fertilizers and herbicides with less environmental impact will contribute to this objective. For that, the use of agriculture and precision systems to predict the need for fertilizers (nutrients), herbicides and fungicides, the use of decision support systems to define the dates of cultural practices, as well as innovative and emerging food and by-products processing methods are suggested. Thus, this study identifies and quantifies the environmental impacts associated with the production system of cherries and their main hotspots. It provides a best-practices guide for sustainable solutions in orchard management that contributes to the competitiveness and sustainability of fruit companies.

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Energy Life-Cycle Assessment of Fruit Products—Case Study of Beira Interior’s Peach (Portugal)

Cited by 15 publications

References 28 publications

Life cycle assessment of peach transportation considering trade-off between food loss and environmental impact

Life cycle assessment of peach transportation considering trade-off between food loss and environmental impact

Assessing Energy and Environmental Efficiency of the Spanish Agri-Food System Using the LCA/DEA Methodology

Influence of Orchard Cultural Practices during the Productive Process of Cherries through Life Cycle Assessment

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