Environmental Impact Assessment of Agricultural Production Using LCA: A Review

Abstract

Life cycle impact assessment (LCA) provides a better understanding of the energy, water, and material input and evaluates any production system’s output impacts. LCA has been carried out on various crops and products across the world. Some countries, however, have none or only a few studies. Here, we present the results of a literature review, following the PRISMA protocol, of what has been done in LCA to help stakeholders in these regions to understand the environmental impact at different stages of a product. The published literature was examined using the Google Scholar database to synthesize LCA research on agricultural activities, and 74 studies were analyzed. The evaluated papers are extensively studied in order to comprehend the various impact categories involved in LCA. The study reveals that tomatoes and wheat were the major crops considered in LCA. The major environmental impacts, namely, human toxicity potential and terrestrial ecotoxicity potential, were the major focus. Furthermore, the most used impact methods were CML, ISO, and IPCC. It was also found that studies were most often conducted in the European sector since most models and databases are suited for European agri-food products. The literature review did not focus on a specific region or a crop. Consequently, many studies appeared while searching using the keywords. Notwithstanding such limitations, this review provides a valuable reference point for those practicing LCA.

Environmental benefits of circular food systems: The case of upcycled protein recovered using genome edited potato

“…The cultivation process relies on large material inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, water and fossil fuels to ensure high returns. Production of these inputs and combustion-related emissions are probably the main cause for global warming impact and land use, while terrestrial acidification could also origin from ammonia volatilization after fertilizer application (Alhashim et al, 2021). Addressing the data uncertainty related to specific products, the sensitivity analyses of using organic fertilizers showed comparable impact to mineral fertilizers in this study.…”

“…The general consensus suggests that novel plant breeding techniques infer lower climate impact and reduced acidification, while also supporting maintained ecosystem functionality (Dastan et al, 2020;Eriksson et al, 2018). At present, the impact categories global warming and acidification are most frequently included in agricultural life cycle assessments (Alhashim et al, 2021), while ecosystem aspects are rarely adequately assessed (Asselin et al, 2020). Multiple studies have emphasized the importance of including land use and ecosystem aspects when assessing food impact (Bartek et al, 2021;Crenna et al, 2020).…”

Reducing Carbon Footprint of Agriculture—Can Organic Farming Help to Mitigate Climate Change?

“…Originally, this method was developed for industry [38]. Currently, studies on the environmental assessment of agricultural production and food processing using the LCA are being developed around the world [39][40][41]. The LCA allows for a broad compilation and comparison of the environmental impact of the processes and products throughout the production cycle [42].…”

Growing Triticum aestivum Landraces in Rotation with Lupinus albus and Fallow Reduces Soil Depletion and Minimises the Use of Chemical Fertilisers

“…To analyse the environmental consequences of agricultural practices, special attention is given to the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. Many studies have adopted the LCA methodology to evaluate agricultural systems from an environmental point of view [21][22][23][24]. This tool makes it possible to quantify and compare the environmental impacts of agricultural systems throughout their life cycle, as well as to identify the hotspots within them.…”