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Increasing legume intake through dietary diversification confers nutritional and environmental benefits. This study used life cycle assessment to evaluate the environmental impacts of producing frozen green peas from conventional and organic farming. We explored two ways of treating farm data: modeling each farm (baseline) and using a uniform distribution of each farm parameter's average, maximum, and minimum values (alternative). We also assessed the indirect land-use change (iLUC) impacts by applying a deterministic model and used the EF 3.0 method to estimate the midpoint environmental impacts. The results of the two scenarios for pea cultivation (including iLUC) showed notable differences in absolute terms with minor discrepancies in the contribution analysis (e.g., climate change (CC) for the baseline and alternative were 0.98 and 2.09 kg CO2 eq./kg fresh peas, respectively). Generally, conventional peas had a higher environmental impact than organic peas, although this was not uniformly observed across all farms. When included, iLUC accounted for nearly half of the CC score. Pea cultivation was the most impactful phase due to emissions from fertilizers and field operations. The impacts of pea production can be reduced by anaerobic digestion of pea residues with energy and nutrient recycling. However, improvements in processing and nitrogen use efficiency could significantly enhance the overall environmental performance of frozen green peas. In summary, this study emphasizes the need for sustainable practices to minimize the environmental impact of frozen pea production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In the agro-food industry, related to the horticultural sector, promising products are the ones called “ready to eat”, “ready to use”. Fresh processed vegetables, belonging to the “fresh cut” products, are considered barely treated and potentially more sustainable than frozen ones. The principal aim of this study is assessing the environmental impact of nursery step for seedlings production, commonly included in the vegetable chain production in Italy and other countries. Four different kinds of salad have been assessed: Cichorium endivia var. crispum (curly endive), Cicorium endivia var. latifolium (escarole), Cichorium intybus var. foliosum (red chicory) and Cichorium intybus var. foliosum (sugarloaf chicory).Methods: The study was conducted following ISO standards on life cycle assessment (14,040, 14,044) with a “cradle to nursery gate” approach. The functional unit (FU) selected was one small plant in polystyrene tray (170 holes); this choice is due to a requirement of repeatability and comparability of the analysis outcomes. Data for inventory analysis have been detected throughout surveys, questionnaires and direct measurements. In more details, materials used for structures, energy and mass flows have been considered. Calculation method selected is the CML 2 baseline 2000 v. 2.05 with the related impact categories.Results and discussion: Results show that the four species have a comparable environmental load. Differences among the different impact categories are lower than the 30% excluding eutrophication for escarole (−56%) with respect to sugarloaf chicory. Specie that presents the lowest impact is Escarole. This is due to the shorter cultivation cycle. Thermoplastic and plastic materials and their production, substrates extraction and direct emissions from fertilizers and pesticides are the main contributors affecting the environmental sustainability of seedlings production.Conclusions: Consistently with other studies on similar research topic, energy consumption, such as electricity, gives a load of little relevance. Taking into account only the category of global warming, the absolute average load of one seedling produced is 2.53e-3 kg CO2 eq. Further studies regarding the evaluation of alternative production system with a lower use of plastics and thermoplastics will be useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental sustainability has recently shifted towards biodiversity protection via governmental and intergovernmental initiatives (e.g., the UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, MA). The life cycle assessment, the widespread method for assessing environmental sustainability, was not created to evaluate impacts on biodiversity. However, several authors recognize its ability to estimate biodiversity loss drivers (impact indices on land use change and ecosystem). The study aims to apply LCA to the forest sector, precisely to the wood–energy chain of Hophornbeam, to cover suggestions of the MA for the biodiversity impact assessment. Six different scenarios for stove (3) and fireplace (3) wood production were analyzed, evaluating two baselines and four alternative scenarios, including sensitivity analyses related to transport distances for the raw materials. The functional unit is 1 MJ of energy. The fireplace combustion scenarios are relatively more sustainable than the stove ones are (2.95–3.21% less). The global warming potential (around 3 g CO2 eq/MJ) is consistent with current European directives on the sustainability of biofuels and scientific literature. The scenarios showed similarities regarding the impact of the categories related to MA drivers. Although biodiversity is protected by limiting forest management, some authors argue that for some species (e.g., Hophornbeam), a rational tree felling could produce biofuels, increasing biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phasing out fossil fuels to renewables is currently a global priority due to the climate change threat. Advocacy for biomass use as an energy source requires assessing the quality biomass and ecological impacts of bioenergy supply chains. This study evaluated the quality of biomass residues from orchards and silviculture transported from different Northern and Central Italy locations and the carbon footprint of a biomass power plant. The total greenhouse emissions were calculated based on primary data for 2017 according to the ISO/TS 14067. All the residue samples showed their suitability for biofuel use. Ash content was relatively low on average (3–5% d.m.), except for grapevine residues (18% d.m.). The lower heating value was within the expected range of 15–21 MJ kg−1 for plant species. The average GHG emission from the power plant was 17.4 g CO2 eq./MJ of electrical energy, with the energy conversion (38%) and transportation of biomass (34%) phases being the main impact contributors. For this study, impacts of residual agricultural residue were about half that of residues from forest management, mainly due to chipping and greater transport distance. Results show that sourcing residual biomass materials for electricity generation close to power plants significantly reduce GHG emissions compared to conventional fossil fuels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental sustainability continues to attract global interest, especially due to the issue of climate change. The agri-food sector is considered a major contributor to climate change as processes and activities within the sector can negatively impact the environment. The recent changing dietary pattern towards increased vegetable consumption implies a consequent increase in production to meet demand. This study assessed the environmental performance of 1 kg of spinach/FU (Functional Unit) cultivated by different producers in Italy under integrated and organic farming systems. The life cycle assessment was used following the CML_IA impact assessment method. The data used was mainly primary, related to 2019/2020 (harvest period), and representative of the cultivation systems of central and southern Italy. From the results obtained, impact scores for central Italy were higher (e.g., for global warming 0.56 and 0.47 kg CO2 eq. for central and southern respectively). There was high variability among the scores obtained. However, no statistically significant differences were observed at a confidence level of 95% (p < 0.05). Integrated farming was also more impacting than organic for most categories (e.g., for global warming 0.20 kg CO2 eq. for integrated and 0.075 kg CO2 eq. for organic) in Cerignola, Puglia region. Emissions from fertilizer, pesticide, tillage, and combine harvesting were major contributors to impact shares. The results of this study will be helpful to ensure sustainable spinach production and consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ghana is an important cocoa producer and exporter and this production is of high economic importance. Increasing interest in the sustainable productions of cocoa/chocolate necessitated the need to assess the environmental impacts associated with the production of different chocolate variants (extra dark (EDC), dark (DC), milk (MC) and flavoured milk (FMC) in Ghana, including the identification of environmental hotspots for improvement. The life cycle assessment tool was used following the CML_IA and CED impact assessment methods. EDC had the lowest scores for most of the impact categories while FMC was most impactful. For Global Warming Potential (GWP), EDC and FMC were estimated to be 1.61 kg CO2 eq. and 4.21 kg CO2 eq., respectively. CED ranged from 1.44 × 102 to 1.50 × 102 MJ-eq. Chocolate manufacturing phase was generally more impactful than cocoa cultivation due to high emissions from milk and sugar production. The impact scores for 100 g packaged chocolate bar were the lowest in comparison to 300 g chocolate pouches and 12.5 g packaged chocolate strips. GWP for 100 g and 12.5 g were 0.20 kg CO2 eq. and 0.39 kg CO2 eq., respectively. Comparing different destination points for the manufactured chocolate, impact scores for the international destination were similar to those recorded for local destinations. Improvement options are suggested for all phases to ensure more sustainable chocolate production and distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural activities in Europe cover half of the total area of the continent and are simultaneously a cause of environmental impact and victims of the same impact. Horticultural or fruit crops are considered highly intensive and often employ many crop inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, and various materials. Strawberry falls into this group, and it has grown in acreage and production more than others globally. The aim of this study is to compare the environmental impact of two strawberry cultivation systems in central Italy, a mulched soil tunnel and a soilless tunnel system. The method used to assess the impact is LCA, widely applied in agriculture and supported by international standards. The data used are mainly primary, related to 2018, and representative of the cultivation systems of central Italy. For impact assessment, the method selected was the CML_IA baseline version. From the results obtained, the two systems show a similar impact per kg of strawberries produced (e.g., for global warming: 0.785 kg CO2 eq for soilless, 0.778 kg CO2 eq for mulched soil tunnel). Reduced differences can be observed for the use of crop inputs (greater for the tunnel) and the use of materials and technology (greater for soilless). The mitigation measures considered concern the replacement of the packaging (excluding plastic) and the growing medium of the soilless using perlite and compost from insect breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of heat production from vineyard pruning pellets has been evaluated in this paper. The study considers two different systems: the first one based on a mobile pelletizer (PS1) and the second one based on a stationary pellet plant (PS2). The analysis conducted is from "cradle to grave"; the systems under analysis includes pruning harvesting, transport to storage area, pelletization (mobile system or stationary production plant), transport to consumer and combustion. The functional unit selected is 1 MJ of thermal energy produced. The impact assessment calculation methods selected are Eco-Indicator 99 (H) LCA Food V2.103/Europe EI 99 H/A with a midpoint and endpoint approach, and ReCiPe Midpoint (H) V1.10. Considering Life Cycle Assessment results, Eco-indicator shows a total impact of 4.25 and 4.07 mPt for mobile pelletizer and stationary pellet plant, respectively. Considering the three damage categories, PS1 has values of 2.4% (Human Health), 3.8% (Ecosystem Quality) and 17.3% (Resources), more impactful than PS2. Contribution analysis shows that direct emissions are the major damage contributor, followed by wood ash management. From a comparison between the baseline scenario and a scenario with an avoided product (wood ash as a standard potassium fertilizer), PS1 and PS2 with an avoided product approach are 41% and 40% less impactful than in the baseline scenarios. When testing the impact of mobile pelletizer while considering transportation as a factor, a reduction of distance for pellet has been evaluated. Reducing the distance from 100 to 10 km, the total impact of PS1 almost reaches the impact of PS2 with a difference of around 4.6% (Eco-indicator 99 method). The most impactful processes are pellet production, direct emissions and ash management, while a less impactful factor is the electricity consumption. Transportation shows the lowest impact. Considering the ReCiPe impact calculation method with a midpoint approach, the results confirm what was found with Eco-indicator 99; the PS1 shows a slightly higher impact than PS2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sunflower is one of the most important oilseed crops cultivated in the world for different purposes. In Italy, the production is mostly located in the central area, representing 70% of Italian production. The market demand for sunflower oil is higher than the national production. There is an increasing request for cold pressed sunflower oil for food application. The success of this activity is linked to a correct setting up and management of the production and supply chain with a valorization of products and by-products. To this aim, information is needed, and this paper is focused on the cultivation of sunflower in central Italy using suitable hybrids, as well as on the study of the cold extraction performance of the sunflower seed produced and the quality of by-products and residues. Results indicate that, on average, a range of about 1.0–1.5 t ha−1 of cold pressed oil and different amounts of by-products can be obtained. According to a proposed scenario, 30 ha cultivated with sunflower are needed to create a complete supply chain within the farm, avoiding many additional passages and maintaining all the value for the farmer. It is important to use suitable hybrids for obtaining good yield, but also the cold extraction performances are important because they also affect the quality of by-products and residues that can be valorized themselves to improve sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]