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• Calculated environmental impacts of 8 urban farms/gardens using life cycle assessment. • Collected primary data and aimed for complete, transparent assessment. • Vertical, outdoor, professional farms had largest impacts by area; not by mass of crop. • Most impacts came from infrastructure, irrigation, compost, and peat from seedlings. • Results were highly sensitive to system modeling choices, such as compost parameters. Urban agriculture (UA) is often positioned as an environmentally sustainable food supply for cities. However, life cycle assessments (LCA) measuring environmental impacts of UA show mixed results, because of inconsistent application of LCA and reliance on hypothetical case studies. To address these shortcomings, we performed an LCA of eight urban farms and community gardens in Paris, France and San Francisco, California, USA. We collected primary data from sites representing diverse growing systems (low-intensity open-field to open-air hydroponics) and motivations (education, civic engagement, and commercial production). We found that medium-tech farms, with minimum social engagement had the lowest impacts using a kilogram-based functional unit, but socially-oriented farms had the lowest impacts with an area-based functional unit. Most impacts came from infrastructure (irrigation pipes, hydroponics structures), irrigation, compost, and peat for seedlings. Our findings can help LCA practitioners perform UA LCAs more completely/consistently, and help urban farmers/gardeners target high-environmental-impact practices to optimize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern food systems incur many environmental impacts, which can be mitigated by the application of circular economy principles, such as the closing of material and energy loops and the upcycling of waste products. Mushroom farming provides a relevant case in this direction because organic waste can be used for substrate as an input in the cultivation process, which produces valuable outputs such as edible foodstuffs and soil amendment. Few studies evaluate the actual environmental impacts of circular food production systems and assess their efficacy with respect to more linear alternatives. To address this research gap, we quantified the environmental impacts of a circular, urban mushroom farm next to Paris, France. We used life cycle assessment to study the production of 1 kg of fresh oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus), from the generation of substrate materials through delivery to the distribution center. Our goals were to quantify the environmental impacts of a novel type of food production system, to find the aspects of production that contribute most to these impacts, and to assess the advantages and disadvantages of circular economy for this case study. In terms of climate change impact, the product system emitted 2.99–3.18 kg CO2-eq./kg mushroom, and on-farm energy use was the top contributor to all impact categories except land use. Surprisingly, 31% of the climate change impacts came from transport throughout the supply chain, despite the local nature of the farm. Circular economy actions helped optimize the environmental performance by minimizing impacts from the use of materials, which were mostly upcycled. This suggests that further improvements could be made by reducing energy consumption on the farm or by making the transport schemes more efficient, rather than continuing to focus on the type and source of materials used. This circular, urban farm had similar climate change impacts to classical, more linear systems, but these impacts could be largely reduced by implementing appropriate actions. These were identified and discussed with the farmers, factoring in their feasibility. • Climate change impacts were 2.99–3.18 kg CO 2 eq. per kilogram of fresh mushroom. • A large portion of environmental impacts came from energy use on the farm. • Circularity led to low impacts from input materials, but high impacts from transport. • Improving sanitary measures to increase yield would greatly reduce impacts. • Impacts were similar to typical mushroom farms, but can be much lower if optimized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]