Evaluating the impacts of different wheat farming systems through Life Cycle Assessment

Abstract

The main challenge in the durum wheat production chain is to capture as much as possible of the yield potential, whilst supporting long-term sustainability. The present work mainly aims at assessing the environmental performances of organic, biodynamic and conventional farming systems by adopting the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. Old durum wheat cvs. Senatore Cappelli and Saragolla cultivated in biodynamic and organic farming, respectively, and a commercial durum wheat cv. Antalis cultivated in conventional farming in the same area were evaluated. Midpoints and endpoints impacts of the Recchia et al., 2019 method refer to three different units relating to crop yield (1 Mg yield), cultivated surface (1 ha surface) and farm gross income (1 K € GI). The total impact of biodynamic farming for 1 Mg yield was by 22% and by 19% greater than conventional and organic farming systems, respectively. As to an equal cultivated surface, biodynamic and organic farming systems are high performing, with impacts constantly lower (by −52% and −56%, respectively) than those of conventional farming. In relation to an equal gross income, the organic and biodynamic farming systems showed lower impacts than the conventional one in view of higher prices of organic and old cultivars heritage that increase farm profitability. LCA provides valuable comprehensive information on the environmental performance of durum wheat cultivation in different farming systems.