The Effect of Cropping Systems on Environmental Impact Associated with Winter Wheat Production—An LCA “Cradle to Farm Gate” Approach

Chisenga Emmanuel Mukosha (), Jan Moudrý, Magdaléna Lacko-Bartošová, Lucia Lacko-Bartošová, Festus Onyebuchi Eze, Reinhard W. Neugschwandtner, Elnaz Amirahmadi, Jiří Lehejček and Jaroslav Bernas
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Chisenga Emmanuel Mukosha: Department of Agroecosystems, Faculty of Agriculture and Technology, University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice, Branišovská 1645/31A, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
Jan Moudrý: Department of Agroecosystems, Faculty of Agriculture and Technology, University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice, Branišovská 1645/31A, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
Magdaléna Lacko-Bartošová: Institute of Agronomic Sciences, Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Tr. A. Hlinku 2, 94976 Nitra, Slovakia
Lucia Lacko-Bartošová: Institute of Agronomic Sciences, Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Tr. A. Hlinku 2, 94976 Nitra, Slovakia
Festus Onyebuchi Eze: Department of Agroecosystems, Faculty of Agriculture and Technology, University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice, Branišovská 1645/31A, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
Reinhard W. Neugschwandtner: Institute of Agronomy, Department of Crop Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Konrad-Lorenz-Straße 24, 3430 Tulln, Austria
Elnaz Amirahmadi: Department of Agroecosystems, Faculty of Agriculture and Technology, University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice, Branišovská 1645/31A, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
Jiří Lehejček: Department of Environmental Security, Faculty of Logistics and Crisis Management, Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Studentské nám. 1532, Mařatice, 686 01 Uherské Hradiště, Czech Republic
Jaroslav Bernas: Department of Agroecosystems, Faculty of Agriculture and Technology, University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice, Branišovská 1645/31A, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-15

Abstract: The demand for wheat production is increasing and is associated with environmental effects. To sustain the increased demand, there is a need to find sustainable methods of wheat production. The choice of cropping system can significantly affect the environmental burden of agricultural production systems. This study presents the results of monitoring emission loads resulting from winter wheat cultivation under different cropping systems: organic unfertilized (ORG), organic fertilized (ORG-F), conventional unfertilized (CON), and conventional fertilized (CON-F). The system boundaries include all the processes from “cradle to farm gate” and the functional unit was 1 kg of wheat grain. The primary data were obtained from experimental field trials and secondary data from Ecoinvent v3.5, WFLDB, and Agri-footprint v5.0 databases. The results of this study are related to eight impact categories. The SimaPro 9.2.0.1 software and ReCiPe Midpoint (H) V1.13/Europe Recipe H were used for calculation. The results show that fertilized variants recorded higher environmental impacts compared to the unfertilized variants. The results indicate that ORG-F was more environmentally friendly compared to the CON-F variant at the expense of lower yields. Overall, ORG imposes the lowest environmental impact and is deemed to be more environmentally friendly.

Keywords: agriculture; cropping systems; 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: 2023
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