Use and Impact of LCA in Crop Research and Production

One of the most important topics in agronomic research is the possibility to compare different production processes, from seeds or transplants to the final product (ornamental plant, fruits, vegetables etc.), using methods different from the economic evaluation. Even the simplest agricultural systems become, therefore, very complex, because of all the different processes and structures which must be taken into account. These different processes and products are not homogeneous making almost impossible their global evaluation using conventional parameters or indexes.   One of the most suitable methodology appears to be LCA which can be adopted for different field activity or processes. The fundamental approach of this “from the cradle to the grave” methodology is a systematic analysis of the flows of matter and energy during the life of a product - from the extraction of the raw materials, through production, its use, until the product is disposed of and becomes refuse. The procedure outputs are “impacts on different environmental categories” indicating the entity of environmental modifications generated by production activities. Flows of matter and energy affect different categories of impact (UNI EN ISO 14043): global warming, stratospheric ozone depletion, acidification, nutrient enrichment, photosmog formation, human and eco-toxicity and resources depletion. Nowadays LCA is mainly applied to industrial products or processes, but its use is increasingly widespread in agriculture. In this work some applications of LCA to agricultural sector are presented to give an overview of the possibilities offered by this method. Some of results of LCA are on data coming from Italian projects on organic crop production, in particular in comparing different cover crops, and on the evaluation of on-farm energy production for fulfilling farm energy needs. In addition some other applications such as impact of transport of fruits, different cropping systems, found in the literature, are reported.
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