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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
This study describes the influence of orchard cultural practices during the productive
process of cherries on the environmental impact in terms of energy, air, soil and water through
a “farm to market” Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The results were used to identify the orchard
cultural practices that contribute significantly to the environmental impact and to find solutions to
reduce those impacts, serving as best practices guide to improving the environmental performance
and as benchmarks for other national and international cherry and fruit growers. Primary data for
production, harvest and post-harvest periods were gathered experimentally. The openLCA 1.10.2
software and the ecoinvent 3.5 database were used for modelling. Test case scenarios are modelled to
identify the influence of cultural practices in low and high cherry production campaigns depending
on climatic conditions and consequently diseases and plagues. Moreover, results are compared with
other studies, not only covering cherries but also other fruits. The energy consumption per hectare
in the production phase is similar in test scenarios. The energy consumption of orchard cultural
practices related to tractor use, fertilizers and fungicides application are the main hotspots in terms
of global warming, freshwater ecotoxicity and eutrophication, and terrestrial acidification. The use of
electric vehicles, change the warehouse location or redefine transportation routes can reduce this
impact, along with the optimization of the cherry’s quantity transported in each trip. In addition,
the use of plant protection products, fertilizers and herbicides with less environmental impact will
contribute to this objective. For that, the use of agriculture and precision systems to predict the
need for fertilizers (nutrients), herbicides and fungicides, the use of decision support systems to
define the dates of cultural practices, as well as innovative and emerging food and by-products
processing methods are suggested. Thus, this study identifies and quantifies the environmental
impacts associated with the production system of cherries and their main hotspots. It provides
a best-practices guide for sustainable solutions in orchard management that contributes to the
competitiveness and sustainability of fruit companies.
Description
Keywords
Cherry Production Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Environmental Hotspots Energetic Assessment Protected Geographical Indication Environmental Impacts