Environmental impacts of organic and conventional agricultural products--are the differences captured by life cycle assessment?

Assessing environmental sustainability by combining product service systems and life cycle perspective: A case study of hydroponic urban farming models in India

Hydroponics technology offers an environmentally sustainable alternative to conventional farming for urban food needs. It attracts technologists, non-farmers, retailers, restaurants, and consumers. However, the environmental impact of hydroponics-based urban farming models is yet to be quantified. This study assesses the environmental impact of hydroponics-based urban farming models and makes suggestions to improve their adoption. The methodology involves the use of the Product-Service Systems perspective to categorise the hydroponics-based urban farming models and the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method to quantify their environmental impact from a cradle-to-gate perspective. The analysis focuses on the lettuce crop in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The results from the study suggest that that greenhouse farming (BM1) is more environmentally sustainable than indoor farming (BM2), Cabinet selling and remote monitoring (BM3), and conventional farming. It outperforms other models in terms of GHG emissions, Human Toxicity, and fossil fuels per unit of product, with BM3 having high environmental impacts.

Evidencing the importance of the functional unit in comparative life cycle assessment of organic berry crops

LCA methodology provides the best framework to evaluate environmental impacts in agriculture systems. However, the interpretation of LCA results, in particular when the objective was to compare different production systems, could be affected by the selection of the functional unit (FU). That is why an accurate definition of the FU, in agreement with the function considered for the systems analysed, is essential. In this work, the organic production at small scale of blueberry, raspberry, blackberry and cape gooseberry in North Spain has been analysed following LCA methodology. Although a different distribution of environmental loads was obtained for each crop, in all cases, the main contributions to most of the considered environmental categories were electric and fertiliser consumptions. The different production systems have been compared on the basis of the environmental impacts associated considering different FUs, i.e. based on fruit mass, cultivated area, farm-gate price and nutritional quality of fruits. Carbon footprints (CF) have been also calculated. It was observed that the order of the crops with respect to their environmental performances was the same for the blueberry and raspberry crops (with the lowest and the highest CF, respectively), independently of the selected FU, whereas the order of the blackberry and cape gooseberry crops was interchanged, depending on the FU used. This work supports the need of being aware of the final objective of the orchards when choosing the FU (i.e. producing fruits, cultivating an area, economic benefits or nourishing people), so that valid conclusions can be achieved from the environmental comparison, even for different agricultural products.

Production, Composition and Nutritional Properties of Organic Milk: A Critical Review

Milk is one of the most valuable products in the food industry with most milk production throughout the world being carried out using conventional management, which includes intensive and traditional systems. The intensive use of fertilizers, antibiotics, pesticides and concerns regarding animal health and the environment have given increasing importance to organic dairy and dairy products in the last two decades. This review aims to compare the production, nutritional, and compositional properties of milk produced by conventional and organic dairy management systems. We also shed light on the health benefits of milk and the worldwide scenario of the organic dairy production system. Most reports suggest milk has beneficial health effects with very few, if any, adverse effects reported. Organic milk is reported to confer additional benefits due to its lower omega-6-omega-3 ratio, which is due to the difference in feeding practices, with organic cows predominantly pasture fed. Despite the testified animal, host, and environmental benefits, organic milk production is difficult in several regions due to the cost-intensive process and geographical conditions. Finally, we offer perspectives for a better future and highlight knowledge gaps in the organic dairy management system.

A site-specific prediction model for nitrogen leaching in conventional and organic farming

Food production has a profound eutrophication impact on waterbodies via nutrient leaching. To provide reliable life cycle assessments of the eutrophication potential of agricultural products, accurate nitrogen leaching models are needed. Although many dynamic nitrogen leaching models are in use, their suitability for farm-level assessments remains limited when their requirements for site specific data or numerous parameters are not met. In Finland, less data intensive leaching models for life cycle assessments have been developed using data from conventional farming, however, the suitability of these models for organic farming remains unknown. In this work, we developed new nitrogen leaching models that are applicable to both conventional and organic production. While this paper does not aim to argue in favor of organic or conventional farming it provides tools that can be used to inform decisions about management practices from the environmental perspective. We utilized up to 16 years of field measurements from two leaching fields in Finland. We developed prediction equations for nitrogen leaching for two soil types: sand soil and clay soil. According to our statistical analysis based on the data, the relevant factors for explaining nitrogen leaching included soil type, rainfall, whether the farming is done organically, and the availability of nitrogen for leaching. Computed nitrogen balance as such was found to be a poor proxy for nitrogen available for leaching, while nitrate nitrogen concentration measurement of the soil carried out in the fall was found to be a valuable predictor. Organic farming, with a crop rotation resembling that of conventional farming, resulted on average in 20% less nitrogen leached per hectare as compared to conventional farming with 95% C.I. [-34%, -3%]. The developed models are suitable for integration into a life cycle assessment framework, and especially the models utilizing nitrate nitrogen were shown to be applicable to a wide range of different crop types, making the model well-suited for plots with diverse crop rotations.

Edible Insects: Perceptions of Marketing, Economic, and Social Aspects among Citizens of Different Countries

Because edible insects (EI) have been, in recent years, recommended as a nutritious animal protein food with enormous environmental advantages over other sources of animal protein for human consumption, studies aimed at investigating the consumer perspective have become more prominent. Hence, this study intended to examine the perceptions of participants from different countries about the commercialization and economic and social impacts of edible insects. The study was made using a questionnaire survey, and data were collected in Brazil, Croatia, Greece, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, and Turkey. The final number of received answers was 7222 participants. For the treatment of the results, different statistical techniques were used: factor analysis, internal reliability by Cronbach's alpha, cluster analysis, ANOVA to test differences between groups, and Chi-square tests. The results obtained confirmed the validity of the scale, constituted by 12 out of the 14 items initially considered, distributed by 4 factors: the first related to the economic impact of EIs, the second related to the motivation for consumption of EIs, the third related to the places of purchase of EIs, and the fourth corresponding to a question presented to the participants as a false statement. A cluster analysis allowed identifying three clusters, with significant differences between them according to all the sociodemographic variables tested. Also, it was found that the participants expressed an exceptionally high level of agreement with aspects such as the difficulty in finding EIs on sale, knowledge acting as a strong motivator for EI consumption, and the role of personalities and influencers in increasing the will to consume EIs. Finally, practically all sociodemographic variables were found to be significantly associated with perceptions (country, sex, education, living environment, and income), but not age. In conclusion, the perceptions about EI commercialization were investigated and revealed differences among samples originating from different countries. Moreover, the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants were found to be strongly associated with their perceptions.

Development of a visible-light-active-NiTiO3 coating for the efficient removal of the persistent herbicide 2,6-dichlorobenzamide (BAM) from drinking water

In the present research work, the photocatalytic evaluation of NiTiO3 nanoparticles immobilized on glass plates by the spin-coating procedure was carried out in the degradation of the recalcitrant herbicide 2,6-dichlorobenzamide (BAM). The concentrations of Ni employed to synthesize NiTiO3 nanoparticles were 1 wt% (1TESNi) and 2 wt% (2TESNi). The stability of coatings was evaluated by several washings and thermal treatments, which were verified by UV-vis analyses. The morphology of the coatings was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS). The coatings displayed thickness values of 1.35 and 2.56 μm for TiO2 and 1TESNi, respectively. The crystalline phases of the coatings were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), confirming the presence of NiTiO3 and other phases related to TiO2. The bandgap of 1TESNi, compared with the bare TiO2, was reduced from 2.96 to 2.40 eV as a consequence of Ni addition. The TiO2, 1TESNi and 2TESNi coatings were evaluated in the photodegradation of BAM using visible-light for 240 min. The highest effectiveness was displayed by the 1TESNi coating, obtaining degradation of 92.56% after 240 min. Also, the photocatalytic efficiency of the 1TESNi coating was only reduced 1.99% after 3 reuse cycles in the BAM degradation. The scavenger tests revealed that the main oxidizing species involved in the reaction were the •OH- and •O2- radicals. The 1TESNi coating showed the highest photocatalytic efficiency because of its absorption in the visible-light region, valuable surface area and electronic charge separation. Thus, these advantageous features guarantee that NiTiO3 coatings are an efficient method for degrading recalcitrant herbicides from drinking water using a practical way to recover and reuse photocatalysts.

Organic farming offers promising mitigation potential in dairy systems without compromising economic performances

There is a lack of clear empirical evidence towards the lower carbon footprint of organic food products, in particular in the dairy sector. Until now, small sample sizes, lack of properly defined counterfactual and the omission of land-use related emissions have hindered comparisons of organic and conventional products. Here we bridge these gaps by mobilizing a uniquely large dataset of 3074 French dairy farms. Using propensity score weighting, we find that the carbon footprint of organic milk is 19% (95%CI = [10%-28%]) lower than its conventional counterpart without indirect land-use change and 11% (95%CI = [5%-17%]) lower with indirect land use changes. In both production systems, farms' profitability is similar. We simulate the consequences of the Green deal target of 25% of agricultural land devoted to organic dairy farming and show that this policy would reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the French dairy sector by 9.01-9.64%.

Advancing the quantitative characterization of farm animal welfare

Animal welfare is usually excluded from life cycle assessments (LCAs) of farming systems because of limited consensus on how to measure it. Here, we constructed several LCA-compatible animal-welfare metrics and applied them to data we collected from 74 diverse breed-to-finish systems responsible for 5% of UK pig production. Some aspects of metric construction will always be subjective, such as how different aspects of welfare are aggregated, and what determines poor versus good welfare. We tested the sensitivity of individual farm rankings, and rankings of those same farms grouped by label type (memberships of quality-assurance schemes or product labelling), to a broad range of approaches to metric construction. We found farms with the same label types clustered together in rankings regardless of metric choice, and there was broad agreement across metrics on the rankings of individual farms. We found woodland and Organic systems typically perform better than those with no labelling and Red tractor labelling, and that outdoor-bred and outdoor-finished systems perform better than indoor-bred and slatted-finished systems, respectively. We conclude that if our goal is to identify relatively better and worse farming systems for animal welfare, exactly how LCA welfare metrics are constructed may be less important than commonly perceived.

Life cycle cost analysis of agri-food products: A systematic review

Because of the increasing challenges the global food system is facing on a social, economic and environmental level, and the need to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, agri-food systems are increasingly required to become more sustainable. Life cycle tools, such as a life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost analysis (LCC) to evaluate the environmental and economic performance respectively, play an important role in sustainability research. Contrary to LCA, the LCC methodology is not standardized for agri-food products. This study aims to obtain insights into the use of LCC in the agri-food sector using a systematic review approach. Data related to the methodology and findings of life cycle cost analyses of agri-food products were extracted from 92 articles, covering a wide range of products (crops: 59, food/drinks: 22, other: 11) and purposes. Currently, there is no consensus about LCC type definitions and the definition of different types of system boundaries amongst researchers. Furthermore, these and other methodological choices are often not reported in the analyzed studies. The data collection itself can also differ across studies, especially with regards to the inclusion of different cost categories. It is important to include each cost category since all categories have been identified as a costs hotspot in our list of studies (inputs: 84 %, labor: 62 %, machinery: 27 %, other: 39 %). Standardizing the LCC methodology is recommended to ensure comparability and enhance the scientific impact of studies. Integrating LCC results with findings from other life cycle tools, as done in 29 studies, can further support decision-making. The most common methods for integrating results are eco-efficiency analysis and multi-criteria decision analysis methods. In conclusion, it is clear that LCC is a very valuable tool, as a method on its own or complemented by other life cycle tools.

Assessment of the environmental impact and economic performance of cacao agroforestry systems in the Ecuadorian Amazon region: An LCA approach

Ecuador is the third largest cacao exporter in the world. Up to 10 % of Ecuador's cacao production is grown in the Amazon region, mostly under conventional (CA) and organic (OA) agroforestry systems. Despite the importance of cacao in this area, no previous studies on its environmental impact and economic viability have yet been carried out. The main objective of this research is to fill this gap and, more specifically, perform a comparative analysis between CA and OA systems. For this purpose, primary information was gathered from 90 farms (44 conventional and 46 organic ones) that implement land management practices. The environmental performance of cacao production was assessed using a life cycle analysis methodology, with a cradle-to-farm gate approach. Up to twelve impact categories and five environmental and monetary efficiency indicators were estimated based on three functional units (1 kg of cacao, 1 kg of output sold, and 1 ha). Additionally, an economic viability analysis was performed, focused on profitability. The results show that organic management allows to reduce the environmental impact in all the analyzed categories, except for the land footprint, and improved the environmental and economic efficiency of agroforestry systems. The economic analysis shows no statistically significant differences between CA and OA profitability (net margin), which can be improved by selling co-products. Despite the low environmental impact of both types of system, economic profitability is certainly one of the weaknesses of cacao production in the Ecuadorian Amazon region. This study contributes to develop technical, production-related and political actions that could improve the economic cacao production situation without jeopardizing the environmental benefit obtained by these systems.

Enviroscore: normalization, weighting, and categorization algorithm to evaluate the relative environmental impact of food and drink products

A 5-scale label that relativizes the environmental impact of a given product referred to the impact of the European food basket is proposed. It was developed based on the Product Environmental Footprint methodology with the following stepwise approach. First, a set of normalization and weighting factors were defined to aggregate all the environmental impact categories into a single dimensionless index referred to as the European food basket, coined the European Food Environmental Footprint Single Index (EFSI). Next, the effectiveness of the EFSI index was evaluated by assessing the distribution of the EFSI results on 149 hypothetical food items and comparing it with the results obtained with EC Single Score. Finally, the thresholds to translate the EFSI index into the 5-scale Enviroscore (A, B, C, D, and E) were established and validated using the Delphi method. Results indicated that both, Enviroscore and EFSI, were able to account for impact variability between and within food products. Differences on the final score were observed due to the type of products (vegetables vs. animal products), the country of origin and the mean of transportation. Regarding country of origin, results indicated that differences in water stress impact category were better captured by the EFSI index (r = 0.624) than by the EC Single Score (r = 0.228). Finally, good agreement achieved with the Delphi method (weighted Kappa 0.642; p = 0.0025), ensures the acceptability of the Enviroscore. In conclusion, this study developed a method to communicate environmental impact assessment in a front-of-packaging label.

Assessing the environmental impacts of organic and conventional mixed vegetable production based on the life cycle assessment approach

This study aims to assess the environmental impacts and the energy efficiency of organic and conventional vegetable production in Palas Basin, Kayseri, Turkey. Three organic and three conventional farmers representing the vegetable production in the region participated in face-to-face questionnaires. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was implemented to assess the global warming potential (GWP), eutrophication potential (EP), acidification potential (AP), and energy use, which were selected as environmental impact potentials. Additionally, the environmental risk assessment was conducted to understand the impact of pesticide use in the region. Six farmers were investigated individually, and it was found that all of the farmers had a common cultivation calendar, but there were differences in the application. Particularly, mineral fertilizer use and irrigation were excessive in some agricultural practices. Although the use of N- and P-based mineral fertilizers was one of the main differences between organic and conventional farming, irrigation was a common practice. Irrigation, the most influential practice, elevated not only water consumption but also EP, AP, and GWP as a result of electricity consumption by electrical pumps. Electricity consumption from irrigation contributed to the GWP most, and this value was in the range of 45%-95%. Mineral fertilizer use covered up to 40% of the EP, 31% of the GWP, and 37% of the AP for conventional farmers. Three different scenarios were developed to reduce the environmental impacts of the use of excessive mineral fertilizer and irrigation. The developed scenarios recommended the reductions by 38%, 44%, 25%, and 60% in GWP, EP, AP, and total energy inputs, respectively. This study demonstrates that LCA is beneficial in determining the environmental impact of hotspots in vegetable production and allows the development of different solutions to mitigate environmental impacts for agricultural sustainability. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:1733-1746. © 2022 SETAC.

Enabling forecasts of environmental exposure to chemicals in European agriculture under global change

European agricultural development in the 21st century will be affected by a host of global changes, including climate change, changes in agricultural technologies and practices, and a shift towards a circular economy. The type and quantity of chemicals used, emitted, and cycled through agricultural systems in Europe will change, driven by shifts in the use patterns of pesticides, veterinary pharmaceuticals, reclaimed wastewater used for irrigation, and biosolids. Climate change will also impact the chemical persistence, fate, and transport processes that dictate environmental exposure. Here, we review the literature to identify research that will enable scenario-based forecasting of environmental exposures to organic chemicals in European agriculture under global change. Enabling exposure forecasts requires understanding current and possible future 1.) emissions, 2.) persistence and transformation, and 3.) fate and transport of agricultural chemicals. We discuss current knowledge in these three areas, the impact global change drivers may have on them, and we identify knowledge and data gaps that must be overcome to enable predictive scenario-based forecasts of environmental exposure under global change. Key research gaps identified are: improved understanding of relationships between global change and chemical emissions in agricultural settings; better understanding of environment-microbe interactions in the context of chemical degradation under future conditions; and better methods for downscaling climate change-driven intense precipitation events for chemical fate and transport modelling. We introduce a set of narrative Agricultural Chemical Exposure (ACE) scenarios - augmenting the IPCC's Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs) - as a framework for forecasting chemical exposure in European agriculture. The proposed ACE scenarios cover a plausible range of optimistic to pessimistic 21st century development pathways. Filling the knowledge and data gaps identified within this study and using the ACE scenario approach for chemical exposure forecasting will support stakeholder planning and regulatory intervention strategies to ensure European agricultural practices develop in a sustainable manner.

Life Cycle Assessment on Agricultural Production: A Mini Review on Methodology, Application, and Challenges

Agricultural Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an effective tool for the quantitative evaluation and analysis of agricultural materials production and operation activities in various stages of the agricultural system. Based on the concept of life cycle, it comprehensively summarizes the impact of agriculture on the environment, which is an effective tool to promote the sustainability and green development of agriculture. In recent years, agricultural LCA has been widely used in the agroecosystem for resource and environmental impacts analysis. However, some challenges still exist in agricultural LCA, i.e., the environmental impact assessment index system needs to be improved; its application in different production mode is limited; and combination research with other models needs more attention. This paper discusses the above-mentioned challenges and recommends research priorities for both scientific development and improvements in practical implementation. In summary, further research is needed to construct a regional heterogeneity database and develop innovated methodologies to develop more meaningful functional units for agricultural products to complement LCA by other models. These efforts will make agricultural LCA more robust and effective in environmental impacts assessment to support decision making from individual farm to regional or (inter)national for the sustainable future of agriculture.

Musculoskeletal Symptoms and Assessment of Ergonomic Risk Factors on a Coffee Farm

In Honduras, some coffee farms must comply with strict standards of social, economic, and environmental sustainability, due to their organic, gender and fair-trade certifications. The principal research aim is to evaluate the musculoskeletal risks in occupations in a Honduran coffee farm certified in sustainable environments and to know the status of its workers within the farm. Musculoskeletal symptom perception during the last twelve months was consulted, assessing exposure to risk factors for work-related musculoskeletal disorders using the Quick Exposure Check method. Data regarding 48 workers were analyzed to provide the results. Within the body regions where discomfort is concentrated, the back, shoulders, wrists, knees, and feet stand out, and the highest risk exposures are presented for the coffee cutters at the neck level and in the wrist/hand segment, in the coffee pickers at the back, shoulder–arm segment, and wrist/hand segment, and in the processors in the back area and shoulder–arm segment. It is concluded that, in all the coffee fruit harvesting processes, the people who work in these jobs are exposed to ergonomic risks.

Environmental Impacts of Organic and Biodynamic Wine Produced in Northeast Italy

Increasing awareness of sustainability in the agri-food sector is leading to a gradual transition toward lower-impact farming systems, such as organic and biodynamic farming. The environmental performance of organic wines has largely been compared to that of conventional wines, and few researchers have investigated the differences between organic and biodynamic wine production from an environmental point of view. Therefore, in this study, the environmental profiles of two organic and two biodynamic wines produced in two areas in Northeast Italy were assessed by performing a “cradle-to-gate” analysis according to the life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Results were used both to compare organic and biodynamic vitiviniculture and to draw overall conclusions on the environmental performance of each of the analyzed wines in order to identify environmental hotspots and provide recommendations to stakeholders. Production of the glass bottles was identified as the main source of environmental burden in all four systems, followed either by the production and use of fertilizers and pesticides, or the use of agricultural machinery. Results also showed that biodynamic wines seem to be responsible for lesser environmental impacts than organic ones.

Averting wildlife-borne infectious disease epidemics requires a focus on socio-ecological drivers and a redesign of the global food system

A debate has emerged over the potential socio-ecological drivers of wildlife-origin zoonotic disease outbreaks and emerging infectious disease (EID) events. This Review explores the extent to which the incidence of wildlife-origin infectious disease outbreaks, which are likely to include devastating pandemics like HIV/AIDS and COVID-19, may be linked to excessive and increasing rates of tropical deforestation for agricultural food production and wild meat hunting and trade, which are further related to contemporary ecological crises such as global warming and mass species extinction. Here we explore a set of precautionary responses to wildlife-origin zoonosis threat, including: (a) limiting human encroachment into tropical wildlands by promoting a global transition to diets low in livestock source foods; (b) containing tropical wild meat hunting and trade by curbing urban wild meat demand, while securing access for indigenous people and local communities in remote subsistence areas; and (c) improving biosecurity and other strategies to break zoonosis transmission pathways at the wildlife-human interface and along animal source food supply chains.

Dietary inclusion of rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum L.) seed to Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) reared in biofloc system: Impacts on growth, immunity, and immune-antioxidant gene expression

An eight-week feeding trial was carried out to determine the effects of rambutan seed (RS) as a feed additive on the growth, skin mucus, serum immune parameters, and gene expression of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) raised under a biofloc system. Nile tilapia fingerlings (14.77 ± 0.80 g fish^-1) were fed five experimental diets containing 0, 5, 10, 20, and 40 g kg^-1 of RS, corresponding to five treatments (RS0, RS5, RS10, RS20, and RS40) with three replications per treatment. The results showed that fish consuming the RS10 and RS20 diets presented a substantial (P < 0.05) improvement in specific growth rate (SGR), weight gain (WG), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) after eight weeks. The highest values were recorded in the RS10 diet; however, there were no significant (P > 0.05) differences exhibited in the fish survival rates between treatments. The RS supplementation diets demonstrated greater immunological parameters, particularly skin mucus and serum immune responses (P < 0.05), than that of the control after eight the eight-week feeding trial. The highest level was seen in fish fed the RS10; followed by the RS20, RS40 (P > 0.05), and RS5 diets. Regarding gene expressions, IL1, IL8, LBP, GSTa, and GSR genes were significantly up-regulated in fish provided the RS10 diet in comparison to the control and other supplemented diets (P < 0.05). However, no significant up-regulation was found in these genes among the RS0, RS5, RS20, and RS40 diets, with the exception of the GPX gene. Similarly, up-regulation of IL-8, LBP, GSTa, GPX, and GSR were noted in fish fed the RS10 diet (P < 0.05). Notably, no significant differences were evident in these genes among the RS5, RS20, and RS40 diets. In conclusion, fish fed RS10 (10 g kg^-1) significantly enhanced growth, skin mucus, serum immunities, and immune-antioxidants related gene expressions of Nile tilapia raised under biofloc system.

Organic vs conventional plant-based foods: A review

Organic farming is characterized by the prohibition of the use of chemical synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, feed additives and genetically modified organisms and by the application of sustainable agricultural technologies based on ecological principles and natural rules. Organic products are believed to be more nutritious and safer foods compared to the conventional alternatives by consumers, with the consequent increase of demand and price of these foodstuffs. However, in academic circles there is much debate on these issues, since there is not a clear scientific evidence of the difference on the environmental impact and on the nutritional quality, safety and health effects between conventional and organic foods. Therefore, this work aims to describe and update the most relevant data on organic foods, by describing the impact of this practice on environment, producers, consumers and society, as well as by comparing the physicochemical, nutritional and phytochemical quality of conventional and organic plant foods.

Key Findings of the French BioNutriNet Project on Organic Food-Based Diets: Description, Determinants, and Relationships to Health and the Environment

Few studies have investigated the relationships between organic food consumption, dietary patterns, monetary diet cost, health, and the environment. To address these issues, a consortium of French epidemiologists, nutritionists, economists, and toxicologists launched the BioNutriNet project in 2013. In 2014, an FFQ documented the usual organic and nonorganic (conventional) food consumption of approximately 35,000 NutriNet-Santé participants. Then, individual organic and conventional food intakes were merged with price, environmental, and pesticide residue data sets, which distinguished between conventional and organic farming methods. Many studies were conducted to characterize organic consumers and their environmental impacts (i.e., greenhouse gas emissions, energy demand, and land use) and organic food consumption impacts on health. We observed that organic consumers had diets that were healthier and richer in plant-based food than nonorganic consumers. Their diets were associated with higher monetary costs, lower environmental impacts, and reduced exposure to certain pesticide residues. Regular consumption of organic food was associated with reduced risks of obesity, type 2 diabetes, postmenopausal breast cancer, and lymphoma. Although several observations have been confirmed by several studies conducted in other countries, our results should be replicated in other cultural settings and coupled with experimental studies to be able to draw causal conclusions. Finally, the main finding of the BioNutriNet project is that while organic food consumption could be associated with positive externalities on human health and the environment, organic-based diets should be accompanied by dietary shifts toward plant-based diets to allow for better planetary and human health.

Setting life cycle assessment (LCA) in a future-oriented context: the combination of qualitative scenarios and LCA in the agri-food sector

By combining qualitative scenarios and life cycle assessment (LCA), we place the latter in a larger context. This study outlines the importance of the integration of future perspectives into LCA, and also the significance of taking changes in the environment of technology into account, rather than just technological development itself. Accordingly, we focused on adapting the background system of an attributional LCA in the agri-food sector. The proposed technology was assumed not have evolved in the considered time horizon. In this context, the objectives of this paper were twofold: (i) to methodologically prove the applicability of integrating qualitative scenarios into LCA and (ii) to focus on changes in the background system, which is sometimes overlooked in the context of future-oriented LCA. This allowed to evaluate the future potential of different technologies, assessing their environmental impact under uncertain future developments. Methodologically, the qualitative information from scenarios was transformed into quantitative data, which was successively fed into the life cycle inventory (LCI) of the LCA approach. This point of integration into the second phase of LCA translates into future changes in the entire environment in which a technology is used. This means that qualitatively described scenario narratives need to be converted into value estimates in order to be incorporated into the LCA model. A key conclusion is that changes in the background of an LCA—the changing framework expressed through the inventory database—can be very important for the environmental impact of emerging technologies. This approach was applied to a food processing technology to produce apple juice. The proposed methodology enables technology developers to make their products future-proof and robust against socioeconomic development. In addition, the market perspective, if spelled out in the scenarios, can be integrated, leading to a more holistic picture of LCA with its environmental focus, while simultaneously empowering actors to make the right strategic decisions today, especially when considering the long investment cycles in the agri-food sector.

Suitability of operational N direct field emissions models to represent contrasting agricultural situations in agricultural LCA: Review and prospectus

N biogeochemical flows and associated N losses exceed currently planetary boundaries and represent a major threat for sustainability. Measuring N losses is a resource-intensive endeavour, and not suitable for ex-ante assessments, thus modelling is a common approach for estimating N losses associated with agricultural scenarios (systems, practices, situations). The aim of this study is to review some of the N models commonly used for estimating direct field emissions of agricultural systems, and to assess their suitability to systems featuring contrasted agricultural and pedoclimatic conditions. Simple N models were chosen based on their frequent use in LCA, including ecoinvent v3, Indigo-N v1/v2, AGRIBALYSE v1.2/v1.3, and the Mineral fertiliser equivalents (MFE) calculator. Model sets were contrasted, among them and with the dynamic crop model STICS, regarding their consideration of the biophysical processes determining N losses to the environment from agriculture, namely plant uptake, nitrification, denitrification, NH₃ volatilisation, NO₃ leaching, erosion and run-off, and N₂O emission to air; using four reference agricultural datasets. Models' consideration of management drivers such as crop rotations and the allocation of fertilisers and emissions among crops in a crop rotation, over-fertilisation and fertilisation technique, were also contrasted, as well as their management of the mineralisation of soil organic matter and organic fertilisers, and of drainage regimes. For the four agricultural datasets, the ecoinvent model predicted significantly lower values for NH₃ than AGRIBALYSE and STICS. For N₂O, no significant differences were found among models. For NO₃, ecoinvent and AGRIBALYSE predicted significantly higher emissions than STICS, regardless of the fertilisation regime. For both emissions, values of Indigo-N were close to those of STICS. By analysing the reasons for such differences, and the underlying factors considered by models, a list of recommendations was produced regarding more accurate ways to model N losses (e.g. by including the main drivers regulating emissions).

Introducing ground cover management in pesticide emission modeling

Ground cover management (GCM) is an important agricultural practice used to reduce weed growth, erosion and runoff, and improve soil fertility. In the present study, an approach to account for GCM is proposed in the modeling of pesticide emissions to evaluate the environmental sustainability of agricultural practices. As a starting point, we include a cover crop compartment in the mass balance of calculating initial (within minutes after application) and secondary (including additional processes) pesticide emission fractions. The following parameters were considered: (i) cover crop occupation between the rows of main field crops, (ii) cover crop canopy density, and (iii) cover crop family. Two modalities of cover crop occupation and cover crop canopy density were tested for two crop growth stages, using scenarios without cover crops as control. From that, emission fractions and related ecotoxicity impacts were estimated for pesticides applied to tomato production in Martinique (French West Indies) and to grapevine cultivation in the Loire Valley (France). Our results demonstrate that, on average, the presence of a cover crop reduced the pesticide emission fraction reaching field soil by a factor of 3 compared with bare soil, independently of field crop and its growth stage, and cover crop occupation and density. When considering cover exported from the field, ecotoxicity impacts were reduced by approximately 65% and 90%, compared with bare soil for grapevine and tomato, respectively, regardless of the emission distribution used. Because additional processes may influence emission distributions under GCM, such as runoff, leaching, or preferential flow, further research is required to incorporate these processes consistently in our proposed GCM approach. Considering GCM in pesticide emission modeling highlights the potential of soil cover to reduce pesticide emissions to field soil and related freshwater ecotoxicity. Furthermore, the consideration of GCM as common farming practice allows the modeling of pesticide emissions in intercropping systems. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:274-288. © 2021 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

Sustainability of Rearing System Using Multicriteria Analysis: Application in Commercial Poultry Production

The aim of the present study was to develop a multicriteria model for the comparison of three commercial poultry farms: organic with Ross 308 genotype (OR), organic with Naked Neck genotype (ONN) and a conventional system (C), which represents the most common commercial farming system. A model based on multicriteria decision analysis was developed, considering for the first time the One Welfare approach in an operational manner, including three dimensions: human, environmental and animal welfare. The three alternatives demonstrated different performances, according to the different dimensions considered. In particular, the two organic systems performed better for human welfare and animal welfare, with relevant differences due to the genetic strains used. Conventional rearing performed better for the environment index due to the method chosen. The multicriteria analysis showed that the organic system performed better overall than the conventional system. In particular, the use of an adapted Slow Growing (SG) strain positively affected the final rank, mainly by reducing welfare problems and producing good economic and social performance. The stability of the results was verified by performing a sensitivity analysis, specifically a weight stability analysis, which confirmed the strength of results.

Halving food-related greenhouse gas emissions can be achieved by redistributing meat consumption: Progressive optimization results of the NutriNet-Santé cohort

BACKGROUND

Diet-related greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe) mainly comes from animal-sourced foods. As progressive changes are more acceptable for a sustainable food transition, we aimed to identify nutritionally adequate and culturally acceptable optimized diets ensuring a gradual reduction in GHGe, using observed diet from a large sample of French adults, while considering the mode of food production (organic vs conventional farming) and the co-production link between milk and beef.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

Based on the consumption of 257 organic and conventional foods among 29,413 participants (75% women, age: 53.5 ± 14.0y) of the NutriNet-Santé study, we modelled optimal diets according to GHGe reduction scenarios in 5% steps, from 0 to 50% with nutritional, acceptability, and coproduct constraints, for men, premenopausal and menopausal women separately.

RESULTS

Gradual GHGe decrease under these constraints led to optimal diets with an overall decrease in animal foods, with marked reductions in dairy products (up to -83%), together with a stable but largely redistributed meat consumption in favor of poultry (up to +182%) and pork (up to +46%) and at the expense of ruminant meat (down to -92%). Amounts of legumes increases dramatically (up to +238%). The greater the reduction in diet-related GHGe, the lower the cumulative energy demand (about -25%) and land use (about -43%). The proportion of organic food increased from ~30% in the observed diets to ~70% in the optimized diets.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that meeting both nutrient reference value and environmental objectives of up to 50% GHGe reduction requires the reduction of animal foods together with important substitutions between animal food groups, which result in drastic reductions in beef and dairy products. Further research is required to explore alignment with long-term health value and conflict with acceptability, in particular for even greater GHGe reductions.

Organic and conservation agriculture promote ecosystem multifunctionality

Ecosystems provide multiple services to humans. However, agricultural systems are usually evaluated on their productivity and economic performance, and a systematic and quantitative assessment of the multifunctionality of agroecosystems including environmental services is missing. Using a long-term farming system experiment, we evaluated and compared the agronomic, economic, and ecological performance of the most widespread arable cropping systems in Europe: organic, conservation, and conventional agriculture. We analyzed 43 agroecosystem properties and determined overall agroecosystem multifunctionality. We show that organic and conservation agriculture promoted ecosystem multifunctionality, especially by enhancing regulating and supporting services, including biodiversity preservation, soil and water quality, and climate mitigation. In contrast, conventional cropping showed reduced multifunctionality but delivered highest yield. Organic production resulted in higher economic performance, thanks to higher product prices and additional support payments. Our results demonstrate that different cropping systems provide opposing services, enforcing the productivity-environmental protection dilemma for agroecosystem functioning.

Benchmarking of carbon footprint data from the Italian wine sector: A comprehensive and extended analysis

The interest in sustainability, within the wine sector, is growing simultaneously with the awareness of the environmental impacts on climate change generated by the sector itself. In this context, environmental methodologies need to be applied: Carbon Footprint of a Product (CFP) is a quantitative expression of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) emissions that plays an influent role in emission management and evaluation of mitigation measures over the full life cycle of a product. Moreover, CFP application in the agri-food sector remains scarce due to complex, expensive, and difficult data collection. This paper aims to determine the main factors that contribute to the CFP of 33 Italian wines from 16 wineries and compare and evaluate the results obtained using all the inventory data or results obtained using a simplified model with fewer inputs. The results per Function Unit (0.75/ L of wine) have been obtained using a unique methodology. Considering system boundaries from cradle to grave, at 90% confidence interval, CFP results ranged between 0.899 kg CO₂ eq./FU and 1.882 kg CO₂ eq./FU. The study underlines that most of the impacts can be related to few inventory data, in fact the main contributors of GHGs emissions are: glass bottle (29%), electricity used in the winery stage (14%), transport and distribution of the final product (13%), heat used in the winery phase (9%) and fossil fuels used in vineyard (8%). The results can be helpful to support the development of a simplified CFP and to obtain a benchmark for the CFP of the Italian wine sector. Furthermore, the present study can help businesses, policy makers and consumers in making decisions that lead to a better environmental outcome.

Organic food use, meat intake, and prevalence of gestational diabetes: KOALA birth cohort study

Purpose

To evaluate whether consumption of organic food and reduced intake of meat products in pregnancy are associated with lower prevalence of gestational diabetes (GD).

Methods

Women participating in the KOALA Birth Cohort Study with valid informed consent, a singleton pregnancy and information on their food intake were considered in this cross-sectional analysis. Participants with and without GD were compared with each other in terms of dietary characteristics (n = 37 and n = 2766, respectively). Multivariable logistic regression (LR) was used to adjust for relevant covariates.

Results

Organic food consumption tended to be lower, although not significantly, in women with GD compared to women without GD, whereas consumption of meat was positively associated with GD prevalence. LR modelling showed that GD was significantly associated with higher consumption of meat and, in addition, also of cheese, after adjustment for other relevant covariates. GD was associated with some indicators of animal product intake, namely dietary animal to plant protein ratio and maternal plasma arachidonic acid (for the latter, data available for n = 16 and n = 1304, respectively). Food patterns of participants with GD were characterised by more meat products and less vegetarian products.

Conclusions

Due to the low number of participants with GD, results have to be interpreted cautiously. Consumption of organic food during pregnancy does not seem to be markedly associated with a lower GD prevalence; lower intake of meat and cheese, irrespective of its origin (organic or conventional), does. The latter supports previous studies suggesting a causal association between consumption of animal products and GD.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00394-021-02601-4.

Causal Analysis of Ecological Impairment in Land Ecosystem on a Regional Scale: Applied to a Mining City Daye, China

We adopted a weight of evidence approach to establish a causal analysis of an impaired land ecosystem on a regional scale; namely, Daye, a traditional mining city in China. Working processes, including problem statements, a list of candidate causes, and a conceptual model were developed to represent a causal hypothesis for describing land degradation. Causal criteria were applied to integrate multiple lines of evidence. Then, various pieces of evidence were scored to either strengthen or weaken our causal assumptions. Results showed that habitat alteration, heavy metal accumulation, organic pollutants, water eutrophication, and nutrient runoff were the probable causes of land ecosystem impairment in Daye. Meanwhile, noxious gas, toxicants, altered underground runoff, atmospheric deposition, and acid rain were identified as possible causes. The most unlikely causes were altered hydrology, altered earth surface runoff, and soil erosion. Soil salinization, soluble inorganic salts, biological species invasion, and pathogens were deferred as delayed causes due to lack of adequate information. The causal analysis approach was applied to identify the primary causes of land degradation and implement accurate protective measures in an impaired land ecosystem.

Dairy Farms and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): The Allocation Criterion Useful to Estimate Undesirable Products

In this study, the life cycle assessment (LCA) principle was performed to estimate the environmental impact of three dairy farms that operate using different farming systems, namely, conventional (CON), organic (ORG), and high-quality (HQ) modes. In Italy, the typical style of high-quality (HQ) farming is commonly included in the conventional system but is more strictly regulated by the Decree of the Italian Ministry of Health N° 185/1991. Although the farms are not fully representative of each conduct, they showed intrinsic peculiarities, e.g., the cow-culling rate of each system. This rate requires a quantification as it may be related to loss of income. Allocation criteria were applied to attribute the quantities of pollutants to the co-products: wheat, involved in the congruence and number of cows culled, the latter being undesirable and therefore necessary to quantify. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) highlighted that the no-dairy products significantly mitigated (p < 0.05) some of the impacts’ categories. The allocation of culled cows decreased the impacts of the CON and particularly those of the ORG farms when the mass mode was adopted. HQ showed values similar to the results without allocation. Overall, the objective of identifying a “marker” of undesirable products, estimated by the culling rate, was partially achieved.

Evaluation of environmental consequences affecting human health in the current and optimal cropping patterns in the eastern Lorestan Province, Iran

Planning for optimal use of resources and reduction of environmental impacts, in addition to resource protection, is associated with increasing farmers' revenues and boosting the regional economy. Given the limited resources and environmental impacts of agricultural activities on human health, it is necessary to determine an appropriate cropping pattern. The present research aimed to maximize net profit and minimize environmental impacts, including the releases of carcinogens, noncarcinogens, ozone layer depletion, ionizing radiation, and respiratory inorganics and organics on human health. In this study, an optimal cropping pattern of irrigated and rainfed crops was proposed for the east of Lorestan Province using multi-objective nonlinear programming (MOP). Results showed that the cropping areas of chickpea, rapeseed, and potatoes decreased by 50% in the irrigated crop of MOP model and that of lentil in the MOP model of rainfed crops compared with the current pattern. Another important result was increases in the cropping areas of lentil and bean in the MOP pattern of irrigated crops and wheat in the rainfed MOP model. The environmental impacts of agricultural sector on human health can be reduced by determining an optimal cropping pattern. The implementation of this model in the region reduced the emissions of carcinogens (4%), noncarcinogens (9%), respiratory inorganics (17%), ionizing radiation (14%), ozone layer depletion (17%), and respiratory organics (15%) compared with the existing situation along with an increased net profit of $968,483. According to the findings, consideration of environmental objectives affecting human health is essential in the optimization of the cropping pattern. In addition to optimal use of water and land resources, using the proposed model helps to increase profits and reduce environmental consequences on human health.

Comparative analysis on environmental and economic performance of agricultural cooperatives and smallholder farmers: The case of grape production in Hebei, China

Agricultural modernization and intensification have been regarded as a significant way to support agricultural development and improve farm income in China. Agricultural cooperatives have played an important role in promoting the modernization and intensification of Chinese agricultural sector. Given the increasing concerns about environmental harm, however, it still remains unclear whether and the extent to which agricultural cooperatives contributes to reducing environmental impacts of agricultural production. Hence, this study performed an environmental evaluation using life cycle assessment for three different organization forms of grape production in Changli County, Hebei Province, China: smallholder farmers, farmer-owned cooperatives and investor-owned firm-led cooperatives. Then the results of life cycle assessment were monetarized and cost benefit analysis was used to evaluate the economic performance of these three organization forms of grape production. The results demonstrate that investor-owned firm-led cooperatives present an overall improvement in environmental and economic performance with the lowest weighted environmental index (integrating all impact categories into a single score), the highest net profit and the highest total net benefit. The results also show a difference in potential improvement in environmental impacts and economic returns between cooperatives and smallholder farmers. Additionally, the production and application of organic and chemical fertilizer and pesticide have been identified as major contributors to total environmental damage.

Transportation can cancel out the ecological advantages of producing organic cacao: The carbon footprint of the globalized agrifood system of ecuadorian chocolate

Under the hypothesis that organically managed cacao agroforestry systems report a lower global warming potential (GWP) and reduce other environmental pressure indicators compared with conventionally managed systems and monocultures, this work discusses how global transportation can cut back the ecological advantage of the production phase. For this purpose, the life cycle assessment (LCA) of 1 kg of dark chocolate manufactured with Ecuadorian cacao has been performed (cradle-to-retailer approach), including the indirect impacts of transportation and estimating the equilibrium distances beyond which organic chocolate would have a higher impact than chocolate manufactured from cacao grown in monocultures and/or conventionally managed systems. To articulate the discussion, the carbon footprint (CF) of cacao/chocolate was analyzed together with 10 additional LCA-related impact categories. Three management systems-conventional monoculture (CM) and agroforestry (CA), and organic agroforestry (OA)-and three different supply chain scenarios with different weights in the transportation phase were studied. Expanding on the concept of "food miles", the equivalent kilometers of the impact of emissions (km-eq) (or cumulated energy demand, eutrophication, etc.) were defined as the variable distance that a certain means of transportation can travel in relation to a fixed level of GHG emissions (or MJ, kg PO₄-eq, etc.). The CF of the life cycle of cacao/chocolate was estimated at between 2.04 and 4.66 kg CO₂-eq kg^-1. The relative weight of transportation in relation to the total GHG emissions ranged between 8.9% and 51.1%, with cacao/chocolate traveling between 1380 and 9155 km-eq. The CF of chocolate made from cacao grown in OA systems was 22.7%-34.2% and 6.3%-10.7% lower than the CF of chocolate produced from cacao grown in CM and CA and manufactured and transported under the same conditions. The equilibrium distances between managements were estimated at 1213 and 5275 km-eq. Beyond those equivalent kilometers, organic chocolate would have a larger CF than chocolate manufactured from cacao grown, respectively, in CA and CM systems. Our results indicate that transportation would cancel out this and most other comparative ecological advantages of producing organic cacao analyzed in this work. Directly exporting chocolate from cacao-producing countries and relocating chocolate manufacture would help reduce GHG emissions and other environmental impacts of the supply chain.

Environmental and economic assessment of food-packaging systems with a focus on food waste. Case study on tomato ketchup

In this paper, a sustainability evaluation method for food-packaging systems is proposed. First, food waste due to poor emptiability was determined. Then, these quantities were included in life cycle assessments (LCA) and life cycle costing (value added, VA) of the products. Finally, LCA and VA results were combined using multi-criteria decision analysis, Technique for Order by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), in order to identify the most sustainable food packaging system. As a case study, four different ketchup products were examined. For ketchup in polypropylene bottles, FLW resulting from poor emptiability ranged from 13.12% (±2.05) to 28.80% (±3.30) respectively, while this was only 3.85% (±0.41) for ketchup packaged in glass. After integrating the emptiability results into life cycle assessments, this resulted in greenhouse gas emissions of 5.66 to 9.16 kg CO_2eq per 3.80 kg consumed ketchup, the average consumption per capita in Austria. Importantly, poor emptiability of the examined products led to greater environmental impacts than the associated packaging. While greater product loss also pushes up the costs for consumers, it contributes to more value added to the economic system, which is in stark contrast to the goal of decoupling the economy from resource consumption.

Impact of land configuration and organic nutrient management on productivity, quality and soil properties under baby corn in Eastern Himalayas

Appropriate land configuration and assured nutrient supply are prerequisites for quality organic baby corn (Zea mays L.) production in high rainfall areas of the delicate Eastern Himalayan Region of India. A long term (5-year) study was conducted during 2012-2016 on a sandy loam soil in the mid attitude of Sikkim, Eastern Himalayan Region of India to evaluate the productivity, produce quality, the profitability of baby corn, and soil properties under different land configurations comprising flatbed, ridge and furrow, and broad bed and furrow, and organic nutrient management practices comprising un-amended control, farmyard manure 12 t ha^-1, vermicompost 4 t ha^-1 and farmyard manure 6 t ha^-1 + vermicompost 2 t ha^-1. The baby corn sown on broad bed and furrow had the tallest plant (149.25 cm), maximum dry matter (64.33 g plant^-1), highest leaf area index (3.5), maximum cob length (8.10 cm), cob girth (6.13 cm) and cob weight (8.14 g) leading to significantly higher fresh baby corn yield (1.89 t ha^-1), and net returns (US$ 906.1 ha^-1) than those of other treatments. Mineral composition (phosphorus, potassium, iron, and zinc), protein, and ascorbic acid content were also the highest in baby corn grown under the broad bed and furrow system. The soil of broad bed and furrow had a higher pH, organic carbon content, organic carbon pools, microbial biomass carbon, and enzymatic activities (dehydrogenase, fluorescein diacetate, and acid phosphatase) compared to soils of other land configurations. A combined application of farmyard manure (6 t ha^-1) + vermicompost (2 t ha^-1) improved the crop growth and produced 117.8% higher fresh baby corn and 99.7% higher fodder yield over control (0.9 t fresh corn and 13.02 t fodder yield ha^-1), respectively. This treatment also registered significantly higher gross return (US$ 1746.9 ha^-1), net return (US$ 935.8 ha^-1), and benefit-cost ratio (2.15) than other nutrient management practices. Fresh cob quality in terms of protein (22.91%) and ascorbic acid content (101.6 mg 100 g^-1) was observed to be significantly superior under combined application of farmyard manure (6 t ha^-1) + vermicompost (2 t ha^-1) than those of other nutrient management systems. However, fresh baby corn cobs produced with vermicompost 4 t ha^-1 had the highest concentration of phosphorus, potassium, iron, and zinc. Application of farmyard manure 12 t ha^-1 registered the maximum increment in soil organic carbon content (1.52%), its pool (40.6 t ha^-1) and carbon sequestration rate (0.74 t ha^-1 year^-1) followed by integrated application of farmyard manure (6 t ha^-1) and vermicompost (2 t ha^-1). The maximum soil microbial biomass carbon and enzymatic activities [dehydrogenase (22.1 µg TPF g^-1 soil h^-1) and fluorescein diacetate (67.1 µg FDA g^-1 soil h^-1)] were noted with the combined use of farmyard manure (6 t ha^-1) + vermicompost (2 t ha^-1). Thus, the study suggests that the broad bed and furrow land configuration along with the combined application of farmyard manure + vermicompost could be an economically feasible practice for quality organic baby corn production and soil health improvement in the Eastern Himalaya and other similar eco-regions elsewhere.

Assessing the environmental impact of Spanish vineyards in Utiel-Requena PDO: The influence of farm management and on-field emission modelling

Environmental studies into wine from different protected designations of origin (PDO) highlight farming and packaging stages as those contributing the most to the total environmental impacts of this product. However, farming impact, not only depends on the agricultural practices but also on data quality and modelling complexity. By using the life cycle assessment methodology, a twofold goal is aimed. Firstly, to analyse the environmental profile of the most widespread viticultural practices in the Utiel-Requena PDO (Spain). The second aim is to evaluate the differences between the environmental impacts estimated by means of modelling approaches using generic information (Baseline modelling) versus those using site-specific information (Alternative modelling). As regards the agricultural practices and grape cultivars, eight systems were defined and assessed per kg of grape at the farm gate. The differences between farming systems and modelling approaches were statistically assessed. The results show that, regardless of the grape cultivar, organic systems are more environmentally friendly than the conventional ones (on average, the greatest differences occur in the ionizing radiation, marine eutrophication and land use, being the values for organic vineyards 1678%, 648% and 171% lower than those of the conventional ones, respectively), the results for the Bobal cultivar being better than those for the Tempranillo because of the higher yield (differences in yield around 1.500 kg ha^-1). The use of site-specific modelling approaches guarantees the precision of the analysis; however, for some impact categories, namely climate change, fine particulate matter formation, marine eutrophication and terrestrial acidification, the possibility of using general methodologies is open; in this way, the modelling efforts can be minimised, and the results would be consistent with those of more specific methodologies. The results also underline the need for a consensus within LCA practitioners on which methodologies to use in order to estimate on-field emissions taking into account both complexity reduction and accuracy improvement.

Ecological challenges in life cycle assessment and carbon budget of organic and conventional agroecosystems: A case from Lithuania

The carbon footprint for organic and conventional crop farming systems was assessed in Kaunas district (Central Lithuania) using the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). Data from field experiments were applied to define the effects of the organic and conventional crop farming systems. Both manure and mineral fertilizers were applied to the conventional and only manure in the organic rotations. The closed chamber method was employed to calculate carbon footprints of emitted and absorbed CO₂ fluxes. The carbon flows in different agro-ecosystems were also analysed by the estimation of the biomass and leaf area index. The carbon footprints per hectare obtained for the organic farming systems were significantly lower than those obtained for the conventional ones. These results imply that the analysis of the whole crop rotation based on the LCA remains an important issue for analysis of the effects of farming. The introduction of ley and maize into the both organic (OF) and conventional farming (CF) systems resulted in the highest sank of C rates from the atmosphere that has been accumulated in highest net ecosystem production (NEP). The estimates of the carbon footprint indicate the capability of crops to sequester atmospheric carbon in biomass. Nonetheless, out of the crops considered, only ley featured the positive carbon balance and the lowest environmental impact due to the lowest CO₂ emissions and LCA indices in both farming systems. The results imply that reasonable crop-mix within the crop rotation schemes may lead to reduction of CO₂ emissions (i.e. their environmental impact) and mitigation of the climate change. However, the differences between the carbon footprint for the OF and CF agroecosystems were insignificant in general.

Nitrous Oxide Emissions and Methane Uptake from Organic and Conventionally Managed Arable Crop Rotations on Farms in Northwest Germany

Land-use extensification by shifting from conventional to organic arable farming is often discussed as a measure for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agricultural land. Doubts about the benefits arise when emissions are calculated per product unit, particularly where high yields are possible under conventional management. Among the non-CO2 GHG emissions, nitrous oxide (N2O) is the main contributor from arable land and is controlled by soil type, environmental conditions and management. In order to investigate how land-use change from conventional to organic farming would perform under highly productive site conditions in northwest Germany, and how this would affect the important greenhouse gases N2O and methane (CH4), an on-farm field research was conducted over two experimental years. Two site-specific organic crop rotations, (i) with 25% legumes (grass + clover - winter wheat – winter rye – oats) and (ii) with 40% legumes (grass + clover – winter wheat – winter rye – spring field peas – winter rye), were compared with (iii) a conventional arable rotation (winter oilseed rape – winter wheat – winter wheat – sugar beet – winter wheat) and two reference systems, (iv) extensive grassland and (v) a beech forest), which were chosen as the baseline. The results showed that organic farming had lower N2O emissions of 0.7 N2O–N ha−1 year−1 than the conventional rotation, with 2.1 kg N2O–N ha−1 year−1 (p < 0.05), but higher emissions than the extensive grassland (0.3 kg N2O ha−1 year−1) and beech forest (0.4 kg N2O ha−1 year−1). CH4 emissions were a negligible part of total GHG emissions (as CO2 equivalents) in the two arable systems, and considerable uptake of CH4 from the forest soils showed this was a GHG sink in the first experimental year. Organic systems produced up to 40% lower crop yields, but the emissions per product unit in rotation (iii) was not superior to (ii) during the two experimental years. Thus, arable organic farming showed the ability to produce agricultural commodities with low N2O emissions per unit area, and no differences in product-related emissions compared with conventional farming. Conventional and organic systems both showed potential for further mitigation of N2O emissions by controlling the field level nitrogen surplus to a minimum, and by the optimized timing of the removal of the grass–clover ley phase.

Use of multiple indicators to compare sustainability performance of organic vs conventional vineyard management

The wine sector is paying more attention to sustainable wine production practices, but this topic is highly debated because organic viticulture aims to a reduction of environmental impacts, while conventional viticulture ensures an increase of yield. This work provides an economic and environmental comparison using different indicators whereas no previous studies on viticulture have faced on both aspects of sustainability. Two distinct vineyards within the same case study farm were considered, where conventional and organic viticulture practices were applied for 5 years. For each type of production, we calculated the economic benefit and environmental indicators such as the Water Footprint, Carbon Footprint, and an indicator of environmental performance associated with the vineyard phase ("Vineyard Management" or "Vigneto" indicator part of the Italian VIVA certification framework). This latter considers six sub-indicators investigating pesticides management, fertilizers management, organic matter content, soil compaction, soil erosion, and landscape quality. The multi criteria approach is a novel framework assessing sustainability on vineyard management using environmental indicators from VIVA calculator and the economic aspect. Main results showed that organic management in viticulture can be applied without having economic losses and with the benefit of better preserving the natural capital.

Life Cycle Analysis in the Framework of Agricultural Strategic Development Planning in the Balkan Region

Agricultural sector should be considered, as one of the main economic development sectors in the entire world, while at the same time is responsible for important pollution. The life cycle assessment (LCA) procedure was involved in the agricultural strategic development planning for Balkan region, as a useful tool to identify and quantify potential environmental impacts from the production of apple juice, wine and pepper pesto in three selected sites in Greece, North Macedonia and Bulgaria. These three products were chosen, as are considered as the main economic activities at the areas. The LCA approach covered the entire production line of each product. Based on the LCA results, which comprise the size of six impact categories characterization factors, suggestions were made in order to minimize the footprint of the apples orchard, vineyard and pepper cultivation plots as well as of the production processes of apple juice, wine and pepper pesto as final distribution products. The results indicate that changes in the cultivation and the production must be considered in order to optimize the environmental footprint. Moreover, the whole approach could be useful for agricultural stakeholders, policy makers and producers, in order to improve their products ecological performance, reduce food loss and food waste and increase the productivity of the agricultural sector, while at the same time can improve the three pillars of sustainability through strategy development.

Improving Policy Evidence Base for Agricultural Sustainability and Food Security: A Content Analysis of Life Cycle Assessment Research

Life cycle assessment is a widespread method for measuring and monitoring the environmental impacts of production processes, thereby allowing the comparison of business-as-usual with more ecological scenarios. Life cycle assessment research can support evidence-based policy making by comparing and communicating the environmental impacts of agricultural and food systems, informing about the impact of mitigating interventions and monitoring sectoral progress towards sustainable development goals. This article aims at improving the contribution of science to evidence-based policies for agricultural sustainability and food security, while facilitating further research, by delivering a content-analysis based literature review of life cycle assessment research in agricultural and food economics. Results highlight that demand-side and system-level approaches need further development, as policies need to support redesigned agricultural systems and newly conceived dietary guidelines, which combine environmental protection and health benefits, without reducing productivity. Similarly, more research effort towards consequential life cycle assessment and multidimensional assessment may benefit policy makers by considering the rebound effects associated with the large-scale implementation of impact-mitigating interventions. Promising interventions involve the promotion of waste circularization strategies, which could also improve the profitability of agriculture. For effective policy making towards agricultural sustainability and food security worldwide, countries with the greatest expected population growth and raise of urbanization rates need more attention by researchers.

Environmental sustainability of conventional and organic farming: Accounting for ecosystem services in life cycle assessment

Today, there is an ongoing debate about the environmental sustainability of the products of organic farming. To compare the performance of conventional and organic farming systems regarding environmental impact and productivity, the comprehensive environmental assessment tool 'life cycle assessment' can be used. The lower crop yields attained by organic systems compared to conventional farming systems might, however, outweigh the benefits of the use of more environmental-friendly practices when evaluating the environmental impact per product unit. Although these practices are beneficial for the environment, which is reflected in the delivery of a range of ecosystem services (ES), the focus is traditionally put only on the (harvested) product. Because the agricultural product involves actually a bundle of ES, the impact should be allocated among the whole output of an agricultural system. In this study, we propose an allocation procedure based on the capacity of agricultural systems to deliver ES to divide the environmental impact over all agricultural outputs (i.e. provisioning and other ES). Allocation factors are developed for conventional and organic arable farming systems. Applying these allocation factors, we demonstrate that for about half of the studied food products (including maize, potato), organic farming has clear environmental benefits in terms of resource consumption in comparison to conventional cultivation methods. This allocation approach allows a more complete comparison of the environmental sustainability of organically and conventionally produced food.