Progress in working towards a more sustainable agri-food industry

Abstract

The human health and environmental issues related to food, feed, and bio-based systems, range widely from greenhouse gas emissions and energy use to land use, water availability, soil quality, water quality and quantity, biodiversity losses, and chemical exposure. Threats that stem from other issues, including food quality and food security, the development of genetically modified organisms, desertification, pesticide exposure, antibiotic-resistant strains of microorganisms, growth hormone residues in food, etc., are of concern. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology provides the organizing framework to holistically evaluate the environmental impacts of products and production systems, whether it’s to make a durable, disposable or edible good. The use of LCA in environmental management and sustainability has grown rapidly in recent years as demonstrated by the increasing number of published papers on LCA methodology and case studies, which totaled over 4,500 by 2010. Recognizing the need to focus on the impacts of the agri-food industry, this special issue was developed by selecting sixteen papers from the 85 presented at the Bari LCA Food 2010 conference, and publishing them with eight papers submitted as part of the normal flow to the Journal of Cleaner Production on food-related subjects. The papers in this special issue include case studies from LCAs on relevant dimensions of production of a wide array of types of food, discussions on methodological issues, especially water and land use, the application of product certification schemes, and food preservation. The editors of this special issue acknowledge that progress has been made in strengthening the LCA tools but challenge all LCA practitioners and researchers to push the envelope on LCA methodology and encourage them to develop tools that dynamically address the diverse, rapidly evolving issues related to agricultural products that are not currently addressed. It is hoped the challenges that are outlined in this Special Issue will stimulate many to make progress on improving the food LCA tools prior to the next food LCA conference in this series, which will be held in Saint-Malo, France, on 2–4 October 2012. For more information, visit: https://colloque.inra.fr/lcafood2012.