Integrated Horticultural Practices for Improving Apple Supply Chain Sustainability: A Case Study in the North China Plain

Shan Jiang,Chen Yang,Yu Guo,Xiaoqiang Jiao

doi:10.3390/agronomy11101975

Abstract

Apple production provides smallholders with low economic benefits, while high environmental emissions limit the sustainability of the apple supply chain. Furthermore, coordination to achieve greater economic benefits and environmental protection, thereby improving the sustainability of the apple supply chain, remains underdeveloped. Here, we have analyzed the current status of the economic benefits and environmental emissions of the apple production process and explored the level of collaboration within the apple supply chain, based on an analysis of farmer horticultural practices for high production, high economic benefit, and low environmental emissions, in combination with substance flow analysis. Our study showed that compared with traditional practice, high-yielding, high-efficiency practice allowed fruit yield, partial productivity of nitrogen fertilizer, and economic benefit to increase by 33%, 61% and 49%, respectively, while soil nitrogen residue levels decreased by 13%. The improvement and adoption of technology in the apple-planting process significantly improved the sustainability of the apple supply chain: the economic benefit increased by 63%, while the nitrogen footprint decreased by approximately 68%. Additionally, the application of integrated nutrient management technology in the apple planting process significantly improved the sustainability of apple production, thereby synergistically improving the economic and environmental impact of the apple supply chain.

Highlights

Our study was based on 66 smallholders, among whom, 17 high-yield and highefficiency (HYHE) apple growers were selected using the quartet method, i.e., farmers whose fruit yield and PFP-N were both above the average of the 66 smallholders (Figure 2)
Our findings suggest that the planting process of the apple supply chain can be optimized through improved horticultural practices, such as the optimization fertilizer application, the reduction of pesticide application and better pest-damage control, and by increasing the use of reflective film
Compared with the supply chain run by traditional practices (TPs) farmers, HYHE farmers achieved a 33% increase in apple production but they increased PFP-N by 61%, reduced the N footprint by

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The apple tree is a perennial deciduous species of the genus Malus, within the subfamily Malus of the Rosaceae family. Apples are rich in a variety of minerals and vitamins and have a high nutritional value. They are one of the four major fruits (apples, bananas, citrus, and pears) produced in China. Chinese total apple output in 2019 was 42.4 million tons, accounting for 36.2% of the total output of these major fruits [1,2]

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