Instant Insights

This collection features five peer-reviewed literature reviews on life cycle assessment (LCA) of crops. The first chapter discusses the application of LCA to agricultural systems and highlights key issues associated with its implementation, including delimitation of systems boundaries, defining the functional unit, handling coproduction, and the choosing of impact assessment methods. The second chapter explores the concepts of LCA and the coffee value chain. The chapter discusses how carbon footprint performances can be used to upgrade coffee value chains. The third chapter assesses the environmental impact of oil palm production during cultivation and as a result of land use change for new plantations. The chapter describes the principles and modelling steps of LCA, as well as the challenges ahead regarding further development and application. The fourth chapter reviews the core principles of LCA methodology, the state of the art of LCA for fruits and associated key challenges. The first complete LCA case study for export mango is also discussed. The final chapter assesses the environmental impact of banana production and highlights the importance of LCA in influencing the adoption of practices that can reduce or offset the carbon footprint of the banana value chain.