Life Cycle Assessment to Highlight the Environmental Burdens of Early Potato Production

Abstract

Climate change, food security, and the protection of the planet’s resources require the adoption of sustainable production models. Achieving sustainable development in the agri-food sector enables the creation of new opportunities for operators, guiding farmers towards more environmentally friendly practices and offering cost-effective results. Organic farming paradigms are promoted by the transformation of some harmful practices of conventional agriculture, such as the wide use of chemical products of synthesis, the deep workings that favor the erosive processes, the excessive use of nitrogenous fertilizers. There are still gaps in the knowledge of the real performance of some products that strongly support the local economic system of Sicily (Italy). The research aims to highlight the differences in environmental impact caused by the cultivation of organic early potatoes compared to the conventional regime and the same per kg of product obtained. To this end, the widely used methodology for comparing the environmental impacts of agricultural production systems is the Life Cycle Assessment, which allows us to highlight the phases in which environmental criticalities are most concentrated. An interesting agroecological picture of knowledge emerges, since organic farming is by definition an ecological model that supports the principles of the Green Deal, it often requires interventions to improve the yields obtained in order to achieve a positive result both in terms of cultivated surface and kg of product obtained.

Avaliação do ciclo de vida agrícola de cultivos orgânico, convencional e transgênico de milho: potenciais impactos ambientais

“…Isso pode ser justificado pelas características do típico solo da região, um solo de Cerrado, que apresenta baixa disponibilidade de nutrientes, gerando a necessidade de constantes aplicações de fertilizantes (COSTA et al, 2002). Mesmo assim, pode-se observar que o cultivo orgânico se destaca por ter a característica de aplicar um menor volume de insumos em termos de fertilizantes e pesticidas do que no regime convencional (TIMPANARO et al, 2021).…”

“…Romeiko (2019) comparou a utilização de dois tipos de irrigação nos sistemas de cultivo de milho, soja e trigo e percebeu que, ao substituir a água subterrânea por água recuperada (residual), houve uma queda significativa nos quesitos: aquecimento global do ciclo de vida, acidificação, redução da camada de ozônio, formação de fumaça e impactos respiratórios. Timpanaro et al (2021) compararam as diferenças no impacto ambiental causado pelo cultivo orgânico em relação ao convencional na produção de batatas em que foi observado que o cultivo orgânico foi mais sustentável do que o cultivo convencional.…”

Analysis of global warming potential: Organic vs. conventional tomatoes

“…The former is defined in one hectare of cultivated area and the latter is described by a physical unit such as one kg of harvested tomato. The decision of applying two functional units to the study aims to clarify better the environmental performance of both cultivation systems (Timpanaro et al 2021) Life Cycle Inventory (LCI). The second step is the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI), in which all inputs (materials, machinery, energy) into the production process are quantified.…”

Life Cycle Assessment of the Cultivation Processes for the Main Vegetable Crops in Southern Egypt

“…Regarding the system boundary, a study "from cradle-to-farm gate" (Figure 1) was carried out in agreement with ISO 14040 [48]. In fact, the LCA study does not often cover the whole production process but can be determined to be a part of it [49]. In harmony with the guidelines of ISO 14040 [48] and ISO 14044 [50], selecting impact categories and categorization is a mandatory step in the life cycle impact assessment [51].…”