This study discusses importance of assessing environmental sustainability of fruits and vegetable (F&V) production sector in future climate change (CC) scenarios. For the current production scenario, ...life cycle environmental footprints of F&V supply chain are discussed considering the influences of: agro-climates, production systems, raw material inputs, post-harvest managements to the products' yield and quality. Potential risks of CC to the sector are discussed in the context of elevated global temperature and carbon dioxide level, ozone depletion and changes in precipitation patterns. Potential risks due to CC are on the productivity and the quality of F&V products, such as texture, color, maturity and nutrients. Increased risk of failure of the current crop protection strategies, e.g. due to pest infestations and different crop-water and nutrient stresses are among the short and long-term risks. It also discusses potential adaptation and mitigation measures to CC, and therefrom argues on the related environmental consequences in the supply chain. From the LCA studies, it was revealed that environmental impacts of F&V supply chain varied as per agro-ecological characteristics and farming systems, e.g. greenhouse vs open-field, organic vs conventional, and grown in different agro-climatic conditions. The nexus among the climatic stresses, potential adaptation and mitigation measures, hence were in the form of potential changes in the raw material inputs and resource flows depending on the preferred future agro-management strategies and farming practices. Adaptation and other management options, included are, changes in: crop calendar, nutrient and pest management strategies, post-harvest handling and improved preservation of F&V products. These are argued eventually being determining factors leading to different environmental footprints compared to the existing management scenarios. Prospective life cycle environmental evaluation of F&V supply chain considering the relationship among product yield and qualities, CC stresses and potential adaptation and mitigation measures is thus a new thrust and direction.
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•Critical elements affecting environmental impacts of F&V products are discussed.•Climatic stresses on F&V supply chain are discussed.•Potential adaptation and mitigation measures in the F&V supply chain are discussed.•Proposed approach for evaluating environmental costs of the current and future agro-management scenarios
This study discusses the environmental life cycle impacts of potato and tomato supply chains in a “cradle-to-grave” perspective. The principal focus is to evaluate the processed products, while fresh ...products are also briefly discussed. Processed products included are potato-chips, frozen fries and dehydrated flakes, and tomato-pasta sauce. The functional unit (FU) is 1 kg product(s), eaten at the consumer stage. Life cycle assessment (LCA) modeling has utilized multiple mechanistic crop models to estimate the crop yields, crop nutrient uptakes and irrigation water requirements. The farming systems represent the primary crop reporting districts where the selected crops are produced on a commercial scale in the United States. The post-harvest system was constructed utilizing the data collected from a processing plant and from other available studies. LCA modeling also constituted handling of co-products (e.g. starch in potatoes) and biowaste. A wide range of environmental impact categories were selected for the evaluation, which showed environmental differences between fresh and processed products. For instance, global warming potential for potato-fresh, chips, fries and dehydrated was 0.97, 0.85, 1.21 and 0.65 kg CO2-eq/FU respectively. For fresh tomato and tomato sauce, it was 0.74 and 1.5 kg CO2-eq/FU respectively. Likewise, fossil resource scarcity for fresh potatoes was higher than chips and dehydrated flakes, but lower than fries. Water consumption was slightly higher in fresh potatoes compared to the processed products. Similar impact patterns were found in fresh and processed tomato products. For most of the impact categories, processing and the agriculture systems were the major contributors. The contribution from the consumer stage varied with the ways the product is prepared, e.g. whether fries are oven heated or deep-fried in oil. Environmental mitigation measures include, the use of drip irrigation (for potatoes), and reducing: food miles, food waste and the use of secondary packaging materials.
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•Crop yields, nutrient uptakes and irrigation water are simulated using numbers of mechanistic crop models.•The selected Crop Reporting Districts are the primary crop producers of the US (>80% of the production).•Consumer stage contributed 12-47% of the total GHG emissions obtained for the fresh and processed categories.•Variations in the consumer’s contribution depended on the food preparation behavior.•Waste contributed significantly (25-57% of the GHG emissions) for the fresh and processed products.
► Indices were developed to analyze land use change impacts on ecosystem services. ► Results show a mix of increases, little change and decreases in services over time. ► Water quality provisioning ...decreased in the cropland and agroforest land use areas. ► Forests, and agroforest land uses are critical for ecosystem service provisioning.
Although ecosystem services have been identified to be declining over the previous decades, there is no clear methodology of evaluating the impacts of land use change on ecosystem services. This paper presents a methodology for quantifying and assessing changes in multiple ecosystems services as a result of land use change using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model. The model was used to map and quantify biodiversity and four ecosystem services for Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire for 2000, 2005 and 2009 land use conditions: water yield, carbon storage, nutrient retention, and sediment retention. The study developed a suite of indices to analyze land use change impacts on the status, change and spatial patterns of multiple ecosystem services. On a national scale, the results show a mix of increases in service (water yield, N retention and P retention in Ghana, and, N and P retention in Cote d’Ivoire), little change in services (sediment retention in Ghana and sediment retention and water yield in Cote d’Ivoire) and decreases in services (biodiversity and carbon storage in both countries) from 2000 to 2009. The assessment illustrates a methodology that can be employed by land managers in exploring multiple management scenarios and their implications for multiple ecosystem services change.
San Antonio is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the USA. Urban sprawl may significantly impact ecosystem services and functions but such effects are difficult to quantify and ...watershed-level estimates are seldom attempted. The objective of the study reported here was to determine whether LANDSAT MSS could be used to quantify changes in land-use and ecosystem services due to urban sprawl in Bexar County, TX, in which San Antonio is centered. The size of six land cover categories in the summer of 1976, 1985, and 1991 were estimated in the 141 671 ha of three watersheds in Bexar County. Coefficients published by Costanza and co-workers in 1997 Nature 387 (1997) 253 were used to value changes in ecosystem services delivered by each land cover category, and a sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine the effect of manipulating these coefficients on the estimated values. Although we estimated that there was a 65% decrease in the area of rangeland and a 29% increase in the area of urbanized land use between 1976 and 1991, there appeared to be only a 4% net decline in the estimated annual value of ecosystem services in the study area (i.e. $5.58 ha
−1 per year, with a 15-year cumulative total value of $6.24 million for the whole study area). This relatively small decline could be attributed to the neutralizing effect of the estimated 403% increase in the area of the woodlands, which were assigned the highest ecosystem value coefficient. When we assumed that the shift of rangelands to woodlands produced no net change in the value of ecosystem services per hectare, the estimated annual ecosystem service value declined by 15.4% ($23.22 ha
−1 per year) between 1976 and 1991. When conducting time-series studies of ecosystem services, it is important to identify parallel changes in land cover types in order to quantify the potentially neutralizing influence of positive land cover changes on the negative effects of urban sprawl on ecosystem services.
Abstract
Life cycle assessment of various alternative management strategies in the swine industry was performed to evaluate their impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, cumulative energy use, and ...cumulative water use. The management strategies included the use of immunocastration (IC), production without ractopamine (NoRAC), production without antimicrobials used for either growth promotion (NoAGP) or disease prevention (NoPREV), production of entire males (boars) (EM), and use of gestation pens (PENS). A common baseline scenario representing standard management practices in the swine industry was created against which all alternative management practices were compared pairwise. The study scope was from cradle-to-farm gate with a functional unit of 1 kg live weight at the farm gate. The baseline and each alternative management scenario was simulated in Pig Production Environmental Footprint Calculator (PPEC) model by varying key variables to populate life cycle inventory inputs for SimaPro V7.3 (Pre’ Consultant, the Netherlands), a life cycle assessment modeling program. Increase in GHG emissions, energy use, and water use were observed for NoAGP (1.56, 1.75, and 1.03%, respectively), NoPREV (17.32, 18.40, and 15.58%, respectively), and NoRAC (6.52, 4.87, and 7.52%, respectively) scenarios. For EM scenario, GHG emissions and energy use increased by 2.09 and 3.75%, respectively but water use decreased by 2.29%. Lower GHG emissions, energy use, and water use were observed for PENS (0.97, 1.50, and 0.97%, respectively) and IC (2.39, 2.57, and 2.96%, respectively) scenarios. These changes in the impact categories were statistically significant (P < 0.05) for all scenarios except for changes to GHG emissions for EM and changes to water consumption for PENS and NoAGP. However, the uncertainty analysis showed that the tails of distribution for baseline and alternative management scenario pair overlapped. The impact of management practices on sustainability metrics resulted from differences in pig performance parameters, manure production, feed consumption, etc. between various management practices and the baseline scenario. Due to uncertainties in input parameters, the results should be interpreted as general trends which specifically highlight trade-offs that may result from shifts in production practices. The study identified some of the hot spots in pig production and can be useful in determining best management practices to make swine production more environmentally sustainable.
•The SWAT model was used to evaluate effectiveness of MRBI program in a data limited watershed.•Seven MRBI recommended BMPs were modelled under four placement strategies.•Reductions in sediment and ...nutrient losses were greatest at the subwatershed level.•Grassed waterways performed best in reducing sediment and nutrient losses.•This study confirms the importance of a targeted approach to effectively utilize BMPs in water quality protection.
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) developed the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI) program to improve the health, water quality and wildlife habitat within the Mississippi River Basin. Lake Conway Point Remove (LCPR) watershed was identified as one of the watersheds for the MRBI program implementation. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of the MRBI program in LCPR watershed using a computer simulation model. Seven best management practices (BMPs) (pond, wetland, pond and wetland, cover crops, vegetative filter strips, grassed waterways and forage and biomass planting) were modelled under four placement strategies: random placement in 30% of the watershed, random placement in 30% hydrologic response units (HRUs) of the high priority hydrological unit code (HUCs), placement in the top 30% of the high priority HUCs, and top 30% of the HRUs in the HUCs near the outlet of the watershed. The model was calibrated for flow for the period 1987–2006 and validated for the period 2007–2012. Sediment and nutrients were validated from 2011 to 2012. Out of the BMPs evaluated, grassed waterways proved to be the most effective BMP in reducing sediment and nutrient loads from row crop (soy beans) and pasture fields. Reductions at the watershed outlet ranged 0–1% for flow, 0.28–14% for sediment, 0.3–10% for TP and 0.3–9% for TN. Relatively higher reductions were observed at the subwatershed level, flow reductions ranged 0–51%, sediment reductions −1 to 79%, TP −1 to 65% and TN −0.37 to 66% depending on BMP type, placement scenario, and watershed characteristics. The results from this study provide the data to help prioritize monitoring needs for collecting watershed response data in LCPR and BMP implementation evaluations, which could be used to inform decisions in similar studies.
A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) study was conducted for an open-field strawberry (strb) produced in California. The evaluation covered the full supply chain of strawberry, which also ...included the impacts of food waste generated at each phase of the life cycle. The supply chain included farming, retail, consumption, and end-of-life treatments of waste generated. Data on strawberry farming (included cultivation, harvest and packaging) were collected from the selected farms, with an average strawberry acreage of 138 acres. The defined functional unit (FU) was 1 kg-strb, consumed at the consumer stage, including food waste. Life cycle inventory (LCI) data for post-farm (retail and consumer stage) were based on the available literature and engineering estimates. The ReCiPe 2016 method was used to calculate the potential environmental impacts. The total GHG emissions calculated per FU was 1.45 kg CO2eq; freshwater eutrophication potential was 4.43*10−4 kg Peq/FU, fossil resource scarcity was 0.46 kg oileq/FU. Transportation contributed to about 32% of the total GHG emissions, the use of all forms of plastics (including packaging PET, labels, and field plastics) contributed 18% of the total GHG emissions, while their treatments contributed ∼1% (including the credits from the related recycling process). The use of corrugated boxes contributed 15% of the GHG emissions, while end-of-life treatment provided credits by –7% of the total impact. Food waste treatment contributed ∼15% to the total GHG emissions. For fossil resource scarcity, cultivation along with packaging contributed 71% of the total impact, followed by retail and consumer (25% and 11%, respectively), which was mainly due to transportation. Results showed that the use of recycled packaging materials and the adoption of a suitable recycling process are effective strategies to lower the environmental impacts. The study also showed that with changes in crop yields by ±10%, as compared to the reported yields, most of the selected environmental impacts could change by ± 3–4%, while water consumption would vary by −9% (with +10% yield increase) and increase by 11% (with −10% yield). Reducing food waste by 10% could lower the total GHG emissions by around 1%.
•Cradle-to-grave environmental performance of open-field strawberry analyzed.•Farm based life cycle inventory utilized the data collected from California-based farms.•Environmental impacts and hotspot evaluations are discussed for the supply chain.•Packaging and transportation were the top contributors to the supply chain impacts.
This article elaborates on the life cycle assessment (LCA) protocol designed for formulating the life cycle inventories (LCIs) of fruit and vegetable (F&V) supply chains. As a set of case studies, it ...presents the LCI data of the processed vegetable products, (a) potato: chips, frozen-fries, and dehydrated flakes, and (b) tomato-pasta sauce. The data can support to undertake life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) of food commodities in a “cradle to grave” approach. An integrated F&V supply chain LCA model is constructed, which combined three components of the supply chain: farming system, post-harvest system (processing until the consumption) and bio-waste handling system. We have used numbers of crop models to calculate the crop yields, crop nutrient uptake, and irrigation water requirements, which are largely influenced by the local agro-climatic parameters of the selected crop reporting districts (CRDs) of the United States. For the farming system, LCI information, as shown in the data are averaged from the respective CRDs. LCI data for the post-harvest stages are based on available information from the relevant processing plants and the engineering estimates. The article also briefly presents the assumptions made for evaluating future crop production scenarios. Future scenarios integrate the impact of climate change on the future productivity and evaluate the effect of adaptation measures and technological advancement on the crop yield. The provided data are important to understand the characteristics of the food supply chain, and their relationships with the life cycle environmental impacts. The data can also support to formulate potential environmental mitigation and adaptation measures in the food supply chain mainly to cope with the adverse impact of climate change.
Algal biomass is a promising feedstock for biofuel production. With a high lipid content and high rate of production, algae can produce more oil on less land than traditional bioenergy crops. Algal ...communities can also be used to remove nutrients from impacted waters. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the ability of an algal turf scrubber (ATS)™ to facilitate the growth of periphytic algal communities for the production of biomass feedstock and the removal of nutrients from a local stream. A pilot-scale ATS was implemented in Springdale, AR, and operated over the course of a nine-month sampling period. System productivity over the nine-month operating time averaged 26
g
m
−2
d
−1. Total phosphorus and total nitrogen removal averaged 48% and 13%, respectively. The system showed potential for biomass generation and nutrient removal across three seasons.
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