LCA application in the fruit sector : State-ofthe-art and recommendations for environmental declarations of fruit products

Modern food production is very diverse, with high levels of specialization and complexity. These features inevitably reflect on methods for the application of LCA to food products and agro-systems. Several aspects, including system boundaries, functional units and allocation procedures contribute to deeply differentiate the structure of LCA application in fruit production systems, leading to significantly different results. Indeed, even if the scientific literature on the topic is recent and not very large, several different ways of conducting LCAs in orchards can be found. The aim of the paper is to propose a framework for choosing the best settings for an LCA application in fruit production systems according to the object of the study. This result was achieved by reviewing the scientific and technical literature on the topic. In particular, papers from international journals and conference proceedings were considered and the review covers all main aspects for conducting an LCA in fruit production systems. Particular characteristics considered were objectives, system boundaries, product considered, functional unit, data origin and the environmental impact assessment method used. A relevant part of the paper is devoted to the modelling of the orchard, as this is a keystone for a reliable application of any impact assessment approach. More than a description of the theoretical model, the paper presents concrete recommendations about how to build an orchard system for LCA application avoiding overor under-estimations of the different orchard stages.