Environmental consequences of wheat-based crop rotation in potato farming systems in galicia, Spain

Iana Câmara-Salim; Fernando Almeida-García; Gumersindo Feijoo; Maria Teresa Moreira; Sara González-García

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112351

Environmental consequences of wheat-based crop rotation in potato farming systems in galicia, Spain

J Environ Manage. 2021 Jun 1:287:112351. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112351. Epub 2021 Mar 16.

Authors

Iana Câmara-Salim¹, Fernando Almeida-García², Gumersindo Feijoo³, Maria Teresa Moreira³, Sara González-García³

Affiliations

¹ CRETUS, Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Rúa Lope Gómez de Marzoa, S/n, 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Electronic address: iana.camara@rai.usc.es.
² Grupo Da Cunha, 15175, Carral, Spain; Dept. of Crop Production and Engineering Projects, High Polytechnic School of Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 27002, Lugo, Spain.
³ CRETUS, Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Rúa Lope Gómez de Marzoa, S/n, 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

PMID: 33735673
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112351

Abstract

Intensive agricultural farming systems have negative impacts on the ecosystem. Therefore, the use of crop rotation emerges as an opportunity to improve the environmental sustainability of agricultural systems. In the region of Galicia in north-western Spain, potato and wheat are important commodities and essential foods in the diet. Hence, it is interesting to investigate the environmental profile of these crops to improve the understanding of local agrosystems. This study evaluated three agricultural crops managed under a crop rotation system and following a conventional arable farming: the main rotation crop, which is the potato in the first year (cP), followed by a second year of commercial wheat (cW) and autochthonous Galician wheat (GcW) in the third year. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was performed using four types of functional units: in terms of productivity (kg^-1); land management (ha^-1∙year^-1); a financial function (euros €^-1 of income from sales) and energetic value (MJ^-1). The environmental indicators selected are Climate Change (CC), Particulate Matter (PM), Terrestrial Acidification (TA), Freshwater Eutrophication (FE), Marine Eutrophication (ME), Human Toxicity (HT), Land Use (LU) and Fossil Depletion (FD). The figures show that the GcW has the lowest environmental impact when the functional units refer to land management, financial function and energetic value. However, if analysed in terms of productivity, cP is presented as the best crop due to its comparatively higher yield, reaching a production ratio 10 times higher than wheat. In the specific case of wheat, compared to a previous study in the same region, the environmental impacts are lower when grown in a crop rotation system in contrast to monoculture. This article demonstrates the relevance of using LCA for diverse stakeholders (e.g., farmers, consumers and researchers) to understand the environmental impacts of regional agricultural systems. In addition, it serves as a basis for future work aimed at comparing rotational agricultural systems in this region, integrating economic and social aspects.

Keywords: Autochthonous wheat; Crop rotation; Functional unit; Potatoes cultivation.

MeSH terms

Agriculture
Crop Production
Ecosystem
Humans
Solanum tuberosum*
Spain
Triticum*