Environmental assessment: LCA of innovative agroecological protected vegetable cropping systems

Summary

The use of agroecological practices in intensive organic greenhouse production systems represents an innovative approach for improving resilience, soil health and the fertility of these systems. Practices of interest include, for example, diversified crop rotations, agroecological service crops (ASC), local composts, flower strips, and transfer mulches. Yet, for these practices to be adopted, they must, in addition to securing the approval of farmers, also clearly demonstrate competitive or superior levels of environmental sustainability.
The aim of this study, therefore, was to assess the potential environmental impacts of agroecological innovative vegetable cropping systems, relative to business as usual and for a range of environmental indicators and geographic settings. This resulted in data collection, inventory analyses and life cycle impact assessments of 75 unique cultivations belonging to 13 cropping systems of five experimental project sites: Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, and Switzerland. Collected data for each site represented, in aggregate, an entire crop rotation which allowed for results to be compared at both the product and cropping system level. System boundaries included farm stage production and all main upstream activities associated with key production inputs. A wide set of agriculturally relevant environmental indicators assured the identification of trade-offs between and within systems.