The agriculture is one of the most productive activities tied to the environment and it has been often difficult to understand its economical, social and environmental pressure. In the last years the prospective has changed: the primary objective of agriculture is not only to produce food but, also, to manage the land in a sustainable way. This research studied a tomato crop grown adopting different practices and evaluated possible combinations able to reduce environmental burdens of tomato cultivation. The field work has been developed between March and September 2009 using a factorial combination of four transplant data, four commercial varieties and two agronomic treatments (mulched and not mulched). The tool used to appraise the environmental impact was the software SimaPro 7.2.3 that uses LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) methodology; in this way it was possible to analyze the whole production cycle, from the seed to the harvested fruits. The impacts were based on evaluating a 1 kg of healthy ripe product; the evaluation methods used were Eco-indicator 99 H/A and Ecological Scarcity (2006). The results showed differences between mulched and not mulched treatment, the first had superior production, and so a positive impact on environmental parameters. One variety (NPT) was, on average of combinations, the most productive, probably because it was the best adaptable to the different conditions in the field; this variety had also a lower environmental impact as it uses the same resources obtaining higher yields. No differences were found among transplant periods for all the LCA categories.

Using LCA to Assess Environmental Impact of Processing tomato Production: First Approach

NICOLETTO, CARLO;SAMBO, PAOLO;BONA, STEFANO
2012

Abstract

The agriculture is one of the most productive activities tied to the environment and it has been often difficult to understand its economical, social and environmental pressure. In the last years the prospective has changed: the primary objective of agriculture is not only to produce food but, also, to manage the land in a sustainable way. This research studied a tomato crop grown adopting different practices and evaluated possible combinations able to reduce environmental burdens of tomato cultivation. The field work has been developed between March and September 2009 using a factorial combination of four transplant data, four commercial varieties and two agronomic treatments (mulched and not mulched). The tool used to appraise the environmental impact was the software SimaPro 7.2.3 that uses LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) methodology; in this way it was possible to analyze the whole production cycle, from the seed to the harvested fruits. The impacts were based on evaluating a 1 kg of healthy ripe product; the evaluation methods used were Eco-indicator 99 H/A and Ecological Scarcity (2006). The results showed differences between mulched and not mulched treatment, the first had superior production, and so a positive impact on environmental parameters. One variety (NPT) was, on average of combinations, the most productive, probably because it was the best adaptable to the different conditions in the field; this variety had also a lower environmental impact as it uses the same resources obtaining higher yields. No differences were found among transplant periods for all the LCA categories.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11577/2526235
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