Environmental and economic life cycle assessment of alternative greenhouse vegetable production farms in peri-urban Beijing, China

Abstract

With the rapid urbanization, peri-urban agriculture faces with increased pressure to provide sufficient and qualified food without environment deterioration. Organic agriculture and community-supported agriculture are considered as two alternatives to reduce the environmental burdens related to agricultural production. In order to gain a better understanding of both agroecosystems, an on-site survey was conducted via a semi-structured questionnaire on eight conventional (CON), eight organic (ORG), and seven community-supported agriculture (CSA) farms of greenhouse vegetable production in the peri-urban region of Beijing China. Environmental impacts and economic performance were analyzed with life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC), and eco-efficiency methods. The results indicated that CSA farms exhibited the lowest integrated environmental impact index, which was 29% and 82% lower than those of ORG and CON farms, respectively. Specifically, ORG farms exhibited the highest soil eco-toxicity potential and aquatic eutrophication potential, and this is mainly due to the heavy application of off-farm manures. The LCCs of CON, ORG, and CSA farms corresponded to 29.2, 65.5, and 74.0 thousand USD/ha, respectively. Labor incurred the highest cost accounting for 32%, 50% and 38% of total cost in CON, ORG and CSA farms, respectively. Additionally, CSA farms exhibited the highest gross income (40.74 thousand USD/ha), and this was followed by ORG (21.13 thousand USD/ha) and CON (14.31 thousand USD/ha) farms. Besides, CSA farms also exhibited the highest cost-benefit ratio with 0.51, while ORG farms exhibited the lowest cost-benefit ratio of 0.28. CSA farms also showed the highest eco-efficiency when compared with CON and ORG farms, implying that they achieved more profit with lower environmental impacts. The results of the study provide a reference for decision makers and stakeholders to promote the development of sustainable agriculture in peri-urban areas.