Assessing the environmental impact of Spanish vineyards in Utiel-Requena PDO: The influence of farm management and on-field emission modelling

Evaluating the environmental impacts of smart vineyards through the Life Cycle Assessment

This study aimed to assess the environmental effectiveness of vineyards utilising on-site weather stations integrated with a decision support system (DSS), and to identify the critical hotspots in smart farms that have already obtained integrated or organic certification. For this purpose, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was applied. The research comprised three smart farms employing on-site weather stations and a traditional farm without advanced technologies, which served as a benchmark. The analysis revealed variations in environmental footprints driven by differences in farm management practices and soil characteristics. The results highlighted that smart farms, in compliance with integrated or organic certifications, focus on reducing inputs such as agrochemicals or water consumption. However, these reductions could shift the environmental burden to other impacts, such as those related to machinery use, which remained the most critical aspect across all vineyards considered. In some smart farms, critical issues involve other aspects, such as irrigation and fertilisation. The lack of awareness about the potential environmental impacts of the adopted technical options could make smart farms more impactful than traditional farms. Interestingly, this study found that solely implementing advanced technologies could fall short of achieving ecological objectives. This study emphasises the significance of utilising LCA as a valuable tool to support farmers in making informed decisions while adopting technological strategies to achieve environmentally sustainable goals.

Is there mutual methodology among the environmental impact assessment studies of wine production chain? A systematic review

When talking about environmental and sustainability topics, the wine sector plays a fundamental role ensuring that wine remains not only economically but also environmentally sustainable, hence the importance of conducting analyses to measure the impact of food production through Life Cycle Assessment tool. This paper aims to propose a systematic review of the LCA studies related to the grape and wine production chain providing both a qualitative and a quantitative analysis of methodologies used, and results proposed, as well as focusing the attention on carbon and water environmental indicators that can be evaluated using the LCA tool. Both the qualitative and the quantitative analysis showed a strong variability among the studies starting from the selection of the functional unit till the way the impact assessment is carried out. The results indicated the lack of homogeneity on the application of the LCA, emphasizing the need for deeper research on the wine sector. Based on the interpretation of the results, it was possible to identify the main drivers and barriers of the environmental impact assessment, allowing the contribution towards providing insights both for LCA practitioners and stakeholders of the wine sector. To this end, the main novelty of this work was to give an all-around view of the application of LCA tool in the wine sector providing a first step in the creation of a standardized procedure that harmonize the way a LCA study must be done. This opportunity would be a huge advantage for the scientific community, allowing the possibility to compare different wine production realities by using a globally recognized procedure without bias. Future research will have to focus on understanding and developing this scheme for enhancing the added value of the wine product.

An approach to regionalise the life cycle inventories of Spanish agriculture: Monitoring the environmental impacts of orange and tomato crops

Agricultural life cycle assessment (LCA) at the sub-national regional level may be a valuable input for the decision-makers. Obtaining representative and sufficient data to develop life cycle inventories (LCIs) at that level is a relevant challenge. This study aims to contribute to the development of LCIs representative Spanish crops based on economic and operational information available in official sources to assess the average environmental impacts of these crops in the main producing regions. A comprehensive approach is proposed considering both the temporal variability and uncertainty of input data by using different methods (e.g. linear programming, weighted averages, Monte Carlo simulation, forecasted irrigation, etc.) to estimate the inventory data of reference holdings. From these inventories, the environmental assessment of those reference holdings is carried out. Two case studies are developed, on orange and tomato crops in the main producing regions, where climate change (CC), freshwater scarcity (WS), human toxicity non-cancer (HTnc), and freshwater ecotoxicity (ET) are evaluated. The environmental scores obtained differ significantly from region to region. The highest environmental scores of orange reference holdings correspond to Comunidad Valenciana for CC (1.94·10^-1 kg CO₂ eq.) HTnc (4.16·10^-11 CTUh) and ET (7.45·10^-3 CTUe), and to Andalucia in WS (17.4 m³ world eq.). As to greenhouse tomatoes, the highest scores correspond to Comunidad Valenciana in the four categories analysed (CC = 3.18 kg CO₂ eq., HTnc = 3.6·10^-9 CTUh, ET = 1.5 CTUe and WS = 13.3 m³ world eq.). The environmental scores estimated in this study are consistent with the literature, showing that the approach is useful to obtain a representative description of the environmental profile of crops from official statistical data and other information sources. Widening the data gathered in ECREA-FADN, and also that from other data sources used, would increase the quality of the environmental impact estimation.

Assessment of the Multiannual Impact of the Grape Training System on GHG Emissions in North Tajikistan

The overarching goal of agricultural sciences is to optimize production technology to rationalize the use of production resources, energy, and space. Due to its high fertilization and water requirements, the vine is a plant with a high potential for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The modifying factor in the production technology is plantation management. To reach the assumed goal, a field experiment was conducted in the years 2001–2020, and the following training systems were used: multi-arm fan system (A) trunk height <30 cm, (B) 80 cm, (C) 120 cm, one-side multi-arm, paired planting (D) 120 cm, (E) 140 cm. The total amount of GHGs emitted in vine cultivation was calculated according to ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards. The system boundaries were: establishing the plantation, the production and use of fertilizers and pesticides, energy consumption for agricultural treatments, and gas emissions from the soil. The amount of GHG emissions for cultivation using the systems A, B, C ranged from 426.77 to 556.34 kg of CO2-eq Mg of yield−1, while in the case of D and E systems, the value was approx. 304.37 to 306.23 CO2-eq Mg of yield−1. When comparing this stage with total annual emissions related to cultivation (for 1 ha), the amount of emitted GHGs at this stage is from approx. 42% to 58% higher than from annual emission related to cultivation. Concrete poles are the main element related with GHG emission during stage of plantation establishment, from 97 to 98% of emission. In the case of annual production, nitrogen fertilizers are responsible for approx. 36%. Moreover, the results show that systems D and E increased the average annual fruit yield (per 19 years of research) by approx. 68% compared to the A, B, C systems. There was no difference in the yield of plants with different height of shoots in the D and E systems. The “one-side, multi-arm, paired planting system” was characterized by the highest production and environmental efficiency.

Carbon Storage Distribution Characteristics of Vineyard Ecosystems in Hongsibu, Ningxia

Given that the global winegrape planting area is 7.2 × 10⁶ hm², the potential for winegrape crop-mediated carbon capture and storage as an approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions warranted further research. Herein, we employed an allometric model of various winegrape organs to assess biomass distributions, and we evaluated the carbon storage distribution characteristics associated with vineyard ecosystems in the Hongsibu District of Ningxia. We found that the total carbon storage of the Vitis vinifera 'Cabernet Sauvignon' vineyard ecosystem was 55.35 t·hm^-2, of which 43.12 t·hm^-2 came from the soil, while the remaining 12.23 t·hm^-2 was attributable to various vine components including leaves (1.85 t·hm^-2), fruit (2.16 t·hm^-2), canes (1.83 t·hm^-2), perennial branches (2.62 t·hm^-2), and roots (3.78 t·hm^-2). Together, these results suggested that vineyards can serve as an effective carbon sink, with the majority of carbon being sequestered at the soil surface. Within the grapevines themselves, most carbon was stored in perennial organs including perennial branches and roots. Allometric equations based on simple and practical biomass and biometric measurements offer a means whereby grape-growers and government entities responsible for ecological management can better understand carbon distribution patterns associated with vineyards.