LCA in agricultural experimentation: the case of the tomato production

This paper shows the methodological issues in assessing environmental sustainability through the life cycle analysis approach of the crop trials carried out in the SOFT (Smart Organic Farming Techniques) project. The project envisaged 13 wheat-legume-tomato rotation trials for industry under organic cultivation in two different areas to evaluate the impact of the different soil and climatic conditions. Despite the main use of primary data collected directly during the tests, it was necessary to manage the considerable variability of the data and overcome some limits such as the adoption of two functional units (one hectare of cultivated area and one kilogram of harvested product), the choice of the boundary of the system, the cut off; as well as the data quality rating, the choice of impact categories and the determination of the eco-indicator following the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF). Furthermore, some methodological choices became necessary during the interpretation and improvement phase, above all during the execution of the scenario analysis, with relative parameterization of some inventory data, and through the sensitivity analysis and the Monte Carlo analysis. The solution hypotheses adopted can represent a reference for future studies to implement an information system capable of improving the measure ment of the environmental sustainability of farms in the context of Productive Organizations through the LCA approach, also bearing in mind the evolution of the sector towards agriculture 4.0 and the creation of organic production districts.