Abstract
In recent years, an increasing interest has been observed in the reduction in environmental threats posed by the food production chain beginning with agricultural production. The impact of agriculture on the environment varies depending on farming practices. The aim of the study was to assess and compare the environmental effects of the life cycle of winter wheat cultivation in three soil tillage systems: conventional tillage, reduced tillage, and no-tillage. The study was conducted in 2015–2017 on 15 agricultural farms located in the Wielkopolska region, Poland. The “cradle-to-farm gate” life cycle of wheat production was analysed using life cycle assessment methodology. The values of impact category indicators, especially in the case of global warming potential, acidification potential, and eutrophication potential, depended mainly on mineral fertilization. Wheat production generated more adverse emissions with increased nitrogen fertilization both in reduced tillage and no-tillage systems on the studied farms, and consequently resulted in a more negative impact on the environment compared to wheat cultivated in the conventional tillage system. After nitrogen fertilization, use of fossil fuel, and phosphorus and potassium fertilization were the top contributors to environmental impacts of winter wheat production in different tillage systems. The pre-production phase associated with the agricultural means of production was dominant in determining the analysed environmental impacts, except for global warming potential and photochemical ozone creation potential, which depended mainly on the production phase on the farm. The other key environmental impacts that should be considered when it comes to improvements in the life cycle of wheat production were depletion of mineral resources and acidification.
Highlights
Crop production is an important link in the food production chain
Synthetic N fertilizers had the greatest impact on the formation of potential environmental impacts of wheat production among all inputs, independent of analysed soil tillage system (Figure 3)
The acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), and GWP 100 indicators were especially shaped by N fertilizers
Summary
Crop production is an important link in the food production chain. It plays a crucial role because it provides raw materials for human food and animal feed. One of the basic staple food crops is wheat (Triticum spp.) [1]. It occupies the third place in cereal production, right after maize and rice, and the first place in terms of cereal crop area [2]. It makes up about 32 percent of the total cereal area in Poland, of which 81 percent is winter wheat and 19 percent spring wheat. In 2019, the acreage of winter wheat in the country was over 2 million hectares with an average grain yield of 4.6 Mg per hectare [3]
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