Environmental and Economic Sustainability of Table Grape Production in Italy

Abstract

In recent years, the environmental sustainability of agri-food systems has become a crucial issue. Agri-food firms are increasingly concerned with the implementation of viable environmentally friendly production processes. The environmental impacts of the table grape sector, as well as other fresh and not transformed food products, involve mainly the farming phase rather than the subsequent conditioning, transportation, packaging, and distribution phases. The purpose of this study was to assess the environmental impacts and the economic viability of three table grapes production models (i.e., early harvesting, normal harvesting, and delayed harvesting), based on the Italian tendone system, during the entire life cycle. The environmental impact analysis was performed using the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach, while the economic analysis was performed using the life cycle costing (LCC) approach. The results show that the early and the delayed production models generated the highest environmental burdens, but also the highest economic returns, compared to the normal harvesting production model. The main determinants of the environmental impacts and economic returns are discussed and some practical recommendations are given to improve the sustainability of all the surveyed production models, so to converge public and private interests.

The Economics of Fruit and Vegetable Production Irrigated with Reclaimed Water Incorporating the Hidden Costs of Life Cycle Environmental Impacts

“…Looking at the process impacts (Figure 3a), irrigation and fertilizers are the primary causes, followed by fieldwork operations and land occupation. This confirms the findings of previous studies on open-field tomatoes [38], table grapes [39], and artichokes [40], which identified irrigation and fertilization as the main environmental burdens. Irrigation as a process accounted for 46% of EEC for tomatoes, 24% for grapes, and 20% for Looking at the process impacts (Figure 3a), irrigation and fertilizers are the primary causes, followed by fieldwork operations and land occupation.…”

Ecological and Economic Indicators for the Evaluation of Almond (Prunus dulcis L.) Orchard Renewal in Sicily

“…where IC represents the investment costs, CF n is the annual cash flow generated, is obtained by subtracting total output operational costs, and r is the discount rate. Different baseline discount rates, as advised by the European Commission [42], were set (ranging from 1% to 5%), according to recent studies in which tree crop plantation investments were analyzed [42][43][44][45][46][47].…”

Tendencies of Residents in Sanjiangyuan National Park to the Optimization of Livelihoods and Conservation of the Natural Reserves

“…Indeed, farmers' special skills have contributed to the lack of livelihood in Sanjiangyuan National Park. We suggest two ways to achieve this goal: to use the comprehensive regional development to help farmers increase their income and popularize the measures of farmers' vocational skills training to increase the efficiency and income of farmers' vocational skills production [45].…”