Cradle to farm gate life cycle assessment of strawberry production in the United States

Abstract

The goal of this study was to develop a cradle to farm gate life cycle inventory and assess the environmental impacts of strawberry production in four major strawberry producing states of the United States: California, Florida, North Carolina and Oregon, representing 99% of the United States strawberry production. Life cycle environmental impacts depend strongly on geographic location and production practices. Data for California and North Carolina strawberry production were collected in collaboration with agricultural economists from those states using the “LCA Extended Enterprise Budget” Excel sheet (version 4.11). Data for Florida strawberry production were collected from the state's existing enterprise budget (a detailed accounting of production costs and returns which estimates profitability of an enterprise). Data related to Oregon strawberry production were obtained through interviews with strawberry producers. OpenLCA software was used to conduct life cycle assessment for strawberry production. Missing unit processes for production of agricultural machinery, pesticides, fertilizers and materials were modeled based on existing literature. In order to better assess the sustainability of strawberry production, three metrics encompassing nitrogen productivity, phosphorous productivity and fossil energy productivity were introduced. Global warming potential for California, Florida, North Carolina and Oregon strawberry production was estimated to be 1.75, 2.50, 5.48 and 2.21 kg CO2-eq per 1 kg of strawberry, respectively. The difference between LCA results was due to variation in yield and management practices which depend on geographic location. Plastics, fuels and fertilizers were the inputs with the highest contribution to environmental impact categories. California strawberry production scored the highest on three sustainability metrics mainly due to having the highest strawberry yield.