Evaluation of the environmental sustainability of agricultural production using the methodologies of emergy analysis and life cycle assessment. Case study, tomato grown in Mendoza (Argentina)

PIASTRELLINI, R.; ROTOLO, G.; ARENA, A. P.; CIVIT, B.; CURADELLI, S.

leaner and Circular Bioeconomy

Elsevier

Año: 2024 vol. 8 p. 1 - 10

2772-8013

This article evaluates the environmental performance of tomato production in Mendoza(Argentina) using two methodologies that share the same approach and part of theinventory: i) Life Cycle Analysis, a method that considers all flows (incoming andoutgoing) involved in the life cycle of a product, and ii) Emergetic Analysis, whichrepresents the environmental support provided directly and indirectly by the biosphere toeconomic processes in the form of resources and ecosystem services. The combinedapplication of these two tools helps to identify critical points in the production system andto generate proposals for improvement and innovation. In this case, the critical pointsidentified are irrigation and fertilizers. Specifically for the environmental category Climatechange, crop irrigation represents 51% of the total impact, while seedling productionrepresents 22%. The emergy analysis, without accounting for direct and indirect humanlabor, shows a low contribution of local natural resources to the final product (0.12%), aswell as an environmental burden of 7.23%. The results show that the local environmentaldynamics are altered because tomato production is mostly driven by external inputs, mainlyfertilizers (especially nitrogenous fertilizers) and energy