Eco-Efficiency Analysis to Improve Environmental Performance of Wheat Production

Ali Mohammadi, G. Venkatesh, Samieh Eskandari and Shahin Rafiee
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Ali Mohammadi: Department of Engineering and Chemical Sciences, Karlstad University, 65188 Karlstad, Sweden
G. Venkatesh: Department of Engineering and Chemical Sciences, Karlstad University, 65188 Karlstad, Sweden
Samieh Eskandari: Department of Engineering and Chemical Sciences, Karlstad University, 65188 Karlstad, Sweden
Shahin Rafiee: Department of Agricultural Machinery Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, University of Tehran, Karaj 77871-31587, Iran

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-16

Abstract: Though increasing food supply in order to meet the rising demand for nutrition is a global social imperative, reducing the dependence on imports of essential food commodities is both an economic and a geo-political imperative for national governments. However, in light of the Sustainable Development Goals, although Zero Hunger (SDG2) and Good Health and Well-Being (SDG3) can be ensured within a country when the inhabitants are well-nourished and staple food items remain affordable to one and all, oftentimes, there are trade-offs in the process, with the environmental dimensions—SDGs 13 (Climate action), 14 (Life below water) and 15 (Life on Land). In this paper, using a combination of Environmental-Life Cycle Assessment (E-LCA) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), the authors have evaluated the eco-efficiency of 169 wheat cultivation systems in the Golestan province in the north of Iran. Benchmarking performance based on the best-performing wheat farms and optimizing (decreasing essentially) the consumption of resources, will enable an average reduction of between 10% and 16% in global warming, acidification, eutrophication, and non-renewable energy usage of the wheat cultivation systems in the case study region. The authors recommend the use of this combination not only for wheat cultivation in other regions of the world, but also for other agricultural systems.

Keywords: agricultural systems; data envelopment analysis (DEA); eco-efficiency; environmental life-cycle analysis (E-LCA); sustainability; wheat production (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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