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Evaluating the carbon footprint of Chilean organic blueberry production

  • CARBON FOOTPRINTING
  • Published:
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Chile is the second largest blueberry producer and exporter worldwide. At the global level, there is a lack of information by means of field data about greenhouse gas emissions from organic cultivation of this fruit. This study obtains a resource use inventory and assesses the cradle-to-farm gate carbon footprint (CF) of organic blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) production in the main cultivation area of Chile in order to identify CF key factors and to provide improvement measures.

Methods

The method used in this study follows the ISO 14040 framework and the main recommendations in the PAS 2050 guide as well as its specification for horticultural products PAS 2050-1. Primary data were collected for three consecutive production seasons from five organic Chilean blueberry orchards and calculations conducted with the GaBi 4 software. Agricultural factors such as fertilizers, pesticides, fossil fuels, electricity, materials, machinery, and direct land use change (LUC) are included. Only three orchards present direct LUC.

Results and discussion

The direct LUC associated with the conversion from annual crops to perennial crops is a key factor in the greenhouse gas removals from the orchards. When accounting for direct LUC, the CF of organic blueberry production in the studied orchards ranges from removals (reported as negative value) of −0.94 to emissions of 0.61 kg CO2-e/kg blueberry. CF excluding LUC ranges from 0.27 to 0.69 kg CO2-e/kg blueberry. The variability in the results of the orchards suggests that the production practices have important effects on the CF. The factors with the greatest contribution to the greenhouse emissions are organic fertilizers followed by energy use causing, on average, 50 and 43 % of total emissions, respectively.

Conclusions

The CF of the organic blueberry orchards under study decreases significantly when taking into account removals related to LUC. The results highlight the importance of reporting separately the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from LUC. The CF of blueberry production could be reduced by optimizing fertilizer application, using cover crops and replacing inefficient tractors and large irrigation pumps. The identification of improvement measures would be a useful guide for changing grower practices.

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Notes

  1. Because this study does a cradle-to-farm gate assessment of a horticultural product, PAS 2050-1 was chosen instead of the ISO/TS 14067:2013. PAS 2050-1 provides specific guidance and indicates supplementary requirements for use in conjunction with PAS 2050 for the cradle-to-gate assessment of the GHG emissions from the cultivation of horticultural products.

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Acknowledgments

The present work was mainly supported by the Chilean Food Processing Research Center (Centro de Estudios en Alimentos Procesados CEAP, Chile), R09I2001. A. Iriarte thanks CONICYT (Chile)-FONDECYT Project N° 11140765 for support his work and part of this study. We thank BioAudita (Chillán, Chile) for establishing contacts with some of the growers, as well as the growers themselves for their help in providing data and their participation in this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Agribusiness and Rural Development Program, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Georg-August-Universität, Platz der Göttinger Sieben 5, Göttingen, Germany

    Hanna Cordes

  2. International Agribusiness Program, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Universidad de Talca, Casilla 747, Talca, Chile

    Hanna Cordes

  3. Department of Industrial Engineering (former Department of Industrial Management and Modeling), Faculty of Engineering, Universidad de Talca, Casilla 747, Talca, Chile

    Alfredo Iriarte

  4. Chilean Food Processing Research Center—CEAP (Centro de Estudios en Alimentos Procesados), R09I2001, Av. San Luis km 1, Talca, Chile

    Alfredo Iriarte

  5. Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Universidad de Talca, Casilla 747, Talca, Chile

    Pablo Villalobos

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  1. Hanna Cordes
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  2. Alfredo Iriarte
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  3. Pablo Villalobos
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Correspondence to Alfredo Iriarte.

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Cordes, H., Iriarte, A. & Villalobos, P. Evaluating the carbon footprint of Chilean organic blueberry production. Int J Life Cycle Assess 21, 281–292 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-016-1034-8

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