Comparison of Water-focused Life Cycle Assessment and Water Footprint Assessment: The case of an Italian wine

A new digital technology to reduce fungicide use in vineyards

There is a growing demand for technologies able to decrease the environmental impact of agricultural activities without penalizing quali-quantitative characteristics of productions. In the case of viticulture, one of the key problems is represented by the spray drift during fungicide treatments. The diffusion in operational farming contexts of technologies based on variable-rate and recycling tunnel sprayers is often limited by their cost and, for the latter, by their size and lower maneuverability, representing clear disadvantages especially in case of small farms or in hilly and mountain areas. We present a new digital technology implemented in a mobile app that supports the reduction of both the number of treatments and the amount of fungicide distributed per treatment. The technology is based (i) on an alert system that prevents unneeded treatments in case of no risk of infection and (ii) on the quantification of the optimal amounts of active ingredients and dilution water based on the sprayer type/settings and on leaf area index values estimated with a common smartphone. An internal database allows to adjust (in case of need) the active ingredient dose to assure full compliance with product's legal requirements. In case of heterogeneity in leaf area index values inside the vineyard, prescription maps are generated. Results from a 2-year case study in a vineyard in northern Italy are shown, where the system allowed to reduce by 26.4 % and 27.4 % (mean of two years), respectively, the seasonal amounts of fungicides and dilution water, and by 43.8 % the copper content in must. The high usability of the technology proposed (just a common smartphone is needed) and the fact that it does not require updating the farm machine park highlights the suitability of the proposed solution for operational farming conditions, including premium wine production districts often characterized by small farms in hilly areas.

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.

Evaluation of water footprint in sugar industries and bioethanol distilleries in two different water basins toward water sustainability

Sugarcane farming and bioethanol production are water-intensive activities that result in high water competition. The competition, in turn, can exacerbate water scarcity. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the water footprint (WF) of the sugar and bioethanol production at the Finchaa and Metehara sugarcane farms, which are located in different river basins in Ethiopia. The climatic data (minimal and maximum temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and sunshine duration), meteorological data (rainfall), CROPWAT 8.0 model, nitrogen fertilizer application rates, sugarcane yield, and sugar and bioethanol production over 12 years (2008-2019) were used. Penman-Monteith method-based sugarcane water requirements of Finchaa and Metehara were found to be 2021.1 and 3605.4 mm/growing period, respectively. The sugarcane WF of Finchaa was 188.01 m³/t, which was composed of green (67.45 m³/t), blue (113.42 m³/t), and grey (7.14 m³/t) components, whereas the WF of Metehara was 239.11 m³/t consisting of green (29.42 m³/t), blue (204.13 m³/t), and grey (5.56 m³/t). The low sugarcane WF recorded was attributed to the high yield of sugarcane that was harvested in the study areas. Hence, the irrigation (blue WF) requirement is the major concern of water management in the basins. Similarly, the WF of bioethanol at the Finchaa distillery (2067.62 L/L) was much higher than that of the Metehara distillery (1441.54 L/L). However, both WFs were within the global range. Significant differences were observed between the two water basins. The sugarcane estate farm and bioethanol production processes require water management intervention to reduce the impact of WF in the basins.

Upscaling via a Prospective LCA: A Case Study on Tomato Homogenate Using a Near-to-Market Pasteurisation Technology

Thanks to food technology, the production of cold tomato soups such as salmorejo, a traditional Spanish dish, has become industrialised. Thermal treatments play an important role in ready-to-eat meals, prolonging their shelf-life. Radiofrequency (RF) heating is less energy-intensive than conventional heat exchangers and has been successfully used to pasteurise food; novel applications, however, provide results at laboratory or pilot scale, so conclusions might not be translatable to industry. In this study, a prospective Life-Cycle Assessment of salmorejo pasteurised using RF was performed to highlight the relevance of upscaling and to compare its environmental impacts with those of conventional pasteurisation. “Gate-to-gate” results show that the pilot has greater environmental impacts due to its greater energy consumption, as thermal energy is not recovered. The packing and landfill of organic waste exhibit the highest impacts at industrial scale. RF technology does not imply significant environmental improvements versus conventional pasteurisation. Potential changes in the energy background of future scenarios have relevant consequences in the environmental impacts. “Farm-to-factory-gate” analysis highlights ingredients and tomato valorisation as the most impacting stages. The prospective LCA of scaled up scenarios constitutes a tool for environmental screening in food ecodesign, contributing to Sustainable Development Goal 12.

A multi-criteria approach to evaluate the sustainability performances of wines: the Italian red wine case study

The wine industry has faced two significant environmental problems in recent years: productivity is challenged by environmental trends such as global warming, and buyers are becoming more environmentally conscious. From an environmental standpoint, the food industry is one of the most impacting sectors and wine results as one of the most studied agri-food products in the scientific literature. In general, comprehensive studies that consider an application of set of indicators to evaluate the overall sustainability of wine sector are lacking in literature. This paper aims to carry out a sustainable assessment using different indicators for fifteen Italian red wines: Water Footprint (WF), Carbon Footprint (CF), Vineyard Indicator (VI), and Territory Indicator (TI). VI is an indicator of the vineyard's agronomic management's sustainability at plot level with values ranging from 0 (fully sustainable) to 1 (fully not sustainable), while TI covers the socio-economical aspects of sustainability. Considering system boundaries from cradle to grave, at 90% confidence interval, CF results ranged between 0.97 kg CO₂ eq./functional unit and 1.97 kg CO₂ eq./functional unit, with an average estimated at 1.47 kg CO₂ eq./functional unit, while the WF of a 0.75 L bottle of wine from cradle to gate is 666.7 L/functional unit on average, out of which 86.75% is green, 1.92% is blue and 11.34% is grey water. Concerning the VI, at 90% confidence interval VI results were between 0.117 and 0.498 with an average estimated at 0.307. The results of the correlation analyses confirmed that each indicator is not statistically correlated with each other. Concerning the sub-indicators, a positive correlation has been found between the total CF and the sum of blue and grey WF. The application of a multi-criteria analysis for sustainability performances evaluation of the wine sector presented in this study can be used by wine companies' experts to better assess sustainability performances.

The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Wine Industry: The Case Study of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia

This study aimed to investigate the awareness of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) among wineries located in the Italian regions of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) (1), (2) the obstacles (3) and market drivers of its implementation (4), the practices and range of actions that are concretely implemented in the field of CSR (5), the implications that this management approach can have on company performance (6), and the communication tools used. The methodology adopted is based on a qualitative approach integrated with quantitative measures. In total, 28 wineries participated in the study. The results show that all of the wineries were aware of the importance of implementing CSR, although they mainly refer to environmental issues. Sponsorship in fair trade activities is considered the most relevant market driver, while Italian consumers are generally perceived as not particularly interested in sustainable wine production. The practices implemented are mainly focused on reducing environmental impact. Interesting insights have emerged from this study, such as an unusual disparity between theoretical knowledge and practical implementation of socially responsible activities, a tendency to adapt the entrepreneurial style towards CSR, as well as a fundamental willingness to implement good practices that go beyond the legal requirements currently in force.

Water-Food Nexus Assessment in Agriculture: A Systematic Review

The Water–Food Nexus (WF) has been proposed to reach equitable, balanced, and sustainable access to water and food resources in the face of the growing population demand. Therefore, developing models to assess them has become more relevant. This work systematically reviews the literature on the tools used to evaluate water and food resources between 2002 and 2020. Furthermore, it reports a critical analysis of the software used to assess the WF Nexus quantitatively. The models analyzed were Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Common Agricultural Policy Regional Impact (CAPRI), Global Food and Water System (GFWS), Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), Water Evaluation And Planning system (WEAP), and Soil Water Atmosphere Plant (SWAP). We deduced that the following are necessary in evaluating the WF Nexus: (1) the capacity to generate future scenarios, (2) a global application, and (3) the application in case studies. The present paper is the first review to provide an overview of the software applied to evaluate WF Nexus, including the advantages and disadvantages of the tools found. They can help build sustainability criteria when designing policies that reduce water and food security risks and promote efficient water and food use.

Development and implementation of a qualitative framework for the sustainable management of wine companies

A growing number of companies around the world have already adopted sustainable practices as the majority of consumers are increasingly concerned with environmental and health issues. Despite this, lack of knowledge in sustainability can represent a limit to a sustainable conversion of Italian wine companies. This paper focuses on the development and suitability assessment of TERRITORY, a qualitative framework that assists sustainable management of winery farms with respect to biodiversity, neighbouring land use, agrochemical use, soil management, water management, landscape, site selection, heritage-cultural and aesthetic aspects, product quality and safety, human resource management, health of employees, community and consumers, economic repercussion of structures and territories, resource depletion, procurement practices and traceability. 47 wine companies have adopted the framework and its suitability has been tested and validated in a ten years trial. The present work reports the results of TERRITORY framework adoption in a winemaking cooperative, a grape and wine producer and a bottling firm, that respectively performed 76%, 92%, 62% (where 100% is maximum implementation of sustainable practices), with lower adherence in water, landscape and human resources management. The framework has driven wine companies towards improvements implementation: most relevant deal with a more effective communication to local community and consumers about health and safety, protection of biodiversity (towards a deeper knowledge of its territorial features), territorial values enforcement and improved communication. From the results it emerges that the framework guides the structural transformation of wine farms towards sustainable production and management by assisting the wine producers in identifying emerging opportunities in wine sector, such as fostering network with local communities, defining better soil, and water management through a multi-actor approach. Furthermore, it has been adopted in addressing the selection of quantitative indicators to adopt and monitoring campaigns.

Water footprint coupled economic impact assessment for maize production in China

Nowadays, agricultural production places an enormous burden on freshwater resources, and the environmental external cost caused by the restoration of water quality degradation has attracted great attention. Maize is regarded as one of the world's major food security crops, and China is the second-largest maize producer. Thus, this study conducts an impact-oriented water footprint coupled economic impact assessment to quantify the water-related environmental impacts and economic burden caused by China's maize production from 2008 to 2017. Results show that the overall damage to human health and ecosystem quality of China's maize production in 2017 were 4.32 × 10⁴ DALY and 4.62 × 10³ Species·yr, respectively. The total economic cost was $ 2.15 × 10¹¹, which included an internal cost of $ 5.99 × 10¹⁰ and external cost of $ 1.55 × 10¹¹. Key factor analysis demonstrates that diesel and fertilizer production dominated the reduction in ecological and external cost burdens. Direct water consumption and labor cost played leading roles in human health and internal cost, respectively. The spatiotemporal variation assessment indicates that Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang were the hotspots for water footprint and economic impact assessment results after considering the yield factor. The national average water footprint and economic impact caused by producing 1 ton of maize showed an upward trend from 2008 to 2015, however, a significant decline transpired later. Overall, improving the resource efficiency (i.e., diesel and freshwater), scientific application of fertilizer and reducing labor input can further lessen the water footprint and economic impact of maize production. Developing the social environment can also generate indirect environmental and economic benefits to China's maize production.

Assessment of the environmental impacts associated with vineyards and winemaking. A case study in mountain areas

Mountain wines produced in specific mountain areas and following singular practices have gained popularity over the last few decades. During this time, the environmental impacts associated with the food and beverage manufacturing sector have become a question of interest. However, the environmental impacts derived from the production of this peculiar wine have scarcely been studied until now. A mountain winery in north Spain has been analyzed as representative of PDO "Cangas" winemaking by means of life cycle assessment (LCA). High-quality inventory data for one year of operation was obtained directly from this facility and two steps have been considered, the vineyard and the winery phases. The main factors involved in grape cultivation and wine production were included. In common with standard winemaking processes, the use of fertilizers and the production of glass bottles were the principal hotspots in the grape cultivation and wine production phases, respectively. Additionally, in the winery here evaluated, waste management also contributed notably to several impacts, mainly due to the employment of traditional practices such as the incineration in situ of vineyard pruning wastes. The carbon footprint obtained for "Cangas" PDO wine was 2.35 kg of CO₂eq per 0.75-l bottle, a value within the range reported in the literature for different wines around the world (0.2-2.5 kg CO₂eq per bottle). A sensitivity analysis has shown that changes in vineyard productivity and the amount of fertilizers applied to the land would strongly affect the environmental performance of the wine manufacturing process. Some alternative scenarios have been proposed, modifying the management of pruning wastes in the vineyard and the packaging material in the winery. Results showed that environmental impacts associated with the production of this mountain wine could be notably reduced simply by reusing a percentage of the bottles and/or composting the organic wastes. Specifically, the carbon footprint would be 40% lower if these two improvements were implemented. Considering the lack of similar studies, further research on the production of mountain wines should be carried out in other regions to increase the knowledge about the environmental impacts associated with the manufacturing of this singular type of wine.

Water Footprint Sustainability as a Tool to Address Climate Change in the Wine Sector: A Methodological Approach Applied to a Portuguese Case Study

In the Mediterranean region, climate change is likely to generate an increase in water demand and the deterioration of its quality. The adoption of precision viticulture and the best available techniques aiming at sustainable production, minimizing the impact on natural resources and reducing production costs, has therefore been a goal of winegrowers. In this work, the water footprint (WFP) in the wine sector was evaluated, from the vineyard to the bottle, through the implementation of a methodology based on field experiments and life cycle assessment (LCA) on two Portuguese case studies. Regarding direct water footprint, it ranged from 366 to 899 L/FU (0.75 L bottle), with green water being the most significant component, representing more than 50% of the overall water footprint. The approach used in the current study revealed that although more than 97.5% of the water footprint is associated with vineyard, the winery stage is responsible for more than 75% of the global warming potential indicator. A linear correlation between the carbon footprint and the indirect blue water footprint was also observed for both case studies. Climate change is expected to cause an earlier and prolonged water stress period, resulting in an increase of about 40% to 82% of blue WFP.

Cradle-to-Gate Water-Related Impacts on Production of Traditional Food Products in Malaysia

Modern technology and life-style advancements have increased the demand for clean water. Based on this trend it is expected that our water resources will be under stress leading to a high probability of scarcity. This study aims to evaluate the environmental impacts of selected traditional food manufacturing products namely: tempe, lemang, noodle laksam, fish crackers and salted fish in Malaysia. The cradle-to-gate approach on water footprint assessment (WFA) of these selected traditional food products was carried out using Water Footprint Network (WFN) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Freshwater eutrophication (FEP), marine eutrophication (MEP), freshwater ecotoxicity (FETP), marine ecotoxicity (METP) and water consumption (WCP), LCA were investigated using ReCiPe 2016 methodology. Water footprint accounting of blue water footprint (WFblue), green water footprint (WFgreen) and grey water footprint (WFgrey) were established in this study. It was found that total water footprint for lemang production was highest at 3862.13 m3/ton. The lowest total water footprint was found to be fish cracker production at 135.88 m3/ton. Blue water scarcity (WSblue) and water pollution level (WPL) of these selected food products were also determined to identify the environmental hotspots. Results in this study showed that the WSblue and WPL of these selected food products did not exceed 1%, which is considered sustainable. Based on midpoint approach adopted in this study, the characterization factors for FEP, MEP, FETP, METP and WCP on these selected food products were evaluated. It is recommended that alternative ingredients or product processes be designed in order to produce more sustainable lemang.

Use of multiple indicators to compare sustainability performance of organic vs conventional vineyard management

The wine sector is paying more attention to sustainable wine production practices, but this topic is highly debated because organic viticulture aims to a reduction of environmental impacts, while conventional viticulture ensures an increase of yield. This work provides an economic and environmental comparison using different indicators whereas no previous studies on viticulture have faced on both aspects of sustainability. Two distinct vineyards within the same case study farm were considered, where conventional and organic viticulture practices were applied for 5 years. For each type of production, we calculated the economic benefit and environmental indicators such as the Water Footprint, Carbon Footprint, and an indicator of environmental performance associated with the vineyard phase ("Vineyard Management" or "Vigneto" indicator part of the Italian VIVA certification framework). This latter considers six sub-indicators investigating pesticides management, fertilizers management, organic matter content, soil compaction, soil erosion, and landscape quality. The multi criteria approach is a novel framework assessing sustainability on vineyard management using environmental indicators from VIVA calculator and the economic aspect. Main results showed that organic management in viticulture can be applied without having economic losses and with the benefit of better preserving the natural capital.

A Water Footprint Review of Italian Wine: Drivers, Barriers, and Practices for Sustainable Stewardship

Wine constitutes the dominant Italian agricultural product with respect to both production quantity and economic value. Italy is the top wine producer worldwide in terms of volume and the second one below France in terms of national income. As the Italian agricultural production accounts for 85% of the national freshwater appropriation, the country’s agricultural sector strains freshwater resources, especially in the central and southern regions, which constitute important winemaking areas in terms of quantity and quality. To this end, we first perform a review of the existing research efforts on wine water footprint assessment to investigate the water dynamics of wine production in Italy compared to the rest of the world. The results indicate a prevalence of studies on the water footprint of Italian wine, emphasising the need for deeper research on the sector’s water efficiency. Then, we aim at exploring the major drivers, barriers, and good practises for systematic water stewardship in the Italian winemaking industry, considering the product and territorial characteristics. This research is anticipated to contribute towards providing insights for practitioners in the Italian wine sector to develop water-friendly corporate schemes for enhancing the added value of their products.

The impact of the winery's wastewater treatment system on the winery water footprint

In the Mediterranean region, water scarcity has already prompted concern in the wine sector due to the strong impact it has on vineyard productivity and wine quality. Water footprint is an indicator that takes account of all the water involved in the creation of a product and may help producers to identify hotspots, and reduce water consumption and the corresponding production costs. In recent years several studies have been reported on wine water footprint determination, but mostly focused on the viticulture phase or assuming no grey water footprint at the winery since it has a treatment system. In the framework of the WineWaterFootprint project a medium-size winery was monitored, with direct measurements, regarding determination of the blue and grey components of water footprint. The determined winery water footprint ranged from 9.6 to 12.7 L of water per wine bottle of 0.75 L, the wastewater produced being responsible for about 98%, which means that the grey component cannot be disregarded. The developed scenarios show that a potential reduction of 87% in winery water footprint can be obtained with almost no investment. The challenge of reducing the grey footprint is not in technology development, but rather in the proper maintenance and monitoring of treatment systems.