Medición de la ecoeficiencia en procesos productivos en el sector agrario. Caso de estudio sobre producción de cítricos

Abstract

The eco-efficiency can be defined by using the “economic value/environmental impacts” ratio. In this study the eco-efficiency of orange production in the Comunidad Valenciana was assessed. 24 scenarios of orange production were built regarding their agricultural practices. For every scenario the environmental impacts were assessed by means of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as well as the economic value added. The results have been referred to 1 kg oranges. The integration of the economic and environmental assessments was made through Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Among the scenarios scored as eco-efficient, those with organic production prevailed.

Assessing farming eco-efficiency: A Data Envelopment Analysis approach

“…c. Finally, it should be stressed that agri-environmental programs (i.e., the implementation of more environmentally-friendly technologies) seem to improve farms' eco-efficient performance, being an effective policy to reduce environmental pressures stemming from the farming sector. Similar results have been found in other studies, where comparisons between different agricultural systems or production technologies have been achieved (e.g., Basset-Mens et al, 2007;Pelletier et al, 2008;or Ribal et al, 2009). However, it is worth pointing out that the payments received by farmers subscribing agri-environmental contracts are theoretically equivalent, according to CAP regulations, to the additional costs needed to fulfil program requirements that go beyond the conditionality of the CAP single payment requested from all producers.…”

“…13 It is worth pointing out that, as far as we know, there is no closely related work in the literature where the determinants of eco-efficiency at farm level have being analysed, as we do in this paper. Thus, our discussion of the results is based on other related studies, including those comparing the eco-efficiency of different agricultural systems or production technologies (e.g., Basset-Mens et al, 2007;Pelletier et al, 2008or Ribal et al, 2009) and those employing other methodologies but with a similar purpose (e.g., studies based on sustainable efficiency as Van Passel et al, 2007;Meul et al, 2007or Van Passel et al, 2009, or relying on sustainability assessment through composite indicators, such as Gómez-Limón and Sanchez-Fernandez, 2010).…”

“…All these potential explanatory variables of farm eco-efficiency, listed below, were selected taking into account the previous literature (particularly the works of Van Passel et al, 2007;Basset-Mens et al, 2007;Meul et al, 2007;Pelletier et al, 2008;Reig-Martínez et al, 2008;Van Passel et al, 2009;Ribal et al, 2009;Picazo-Tadeo et al, 2009;and Gómez-Limón and Sanchez-Fernandez, 2010): a. Farmer features: age, percentage of income derived from farming, level of education (level of studies reached: schoolleaving certificate, primary, secondary and university), and specific professional training (type of agricultural instruction: non-specialised agricultural training, extension courses, professional degrees and university agricultural studies).…”

Energy and greenhouse-gas emissions in irrigated agriculture of SE (southeast) Spain. Effects of alternative water supply scenarios

“…For citrus orchards, our study found similar specific GHG emissions to those reported in Italy for orange (0.10 kg CO 2eq kg À1 ) [39], and lower than that estimated in Sicily for orange (0.13 kg CO 2eq kg À1 ) and lemon productions (0.12 kg CO 2eq kg À1 ) [40]. Our data were also significantly lower than those estimated in Valencia for orange (0.25 kg CO 2eq kg À1 ) [41].…”

Influence of Management Practices on Economic and Environmental Performance of Crops. A Case Study in Spanish Horticulture

“…Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has been successfully used for this purpose (Ribal et al, 2009;Sanjuán et al, 2011;Jan et al, 2012). In this way, the eco-efficiency of the farms is measured and benchmark values can be defined.…”