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This article assesses the effect of management practices on the environmental and economic performance of tigernut production. Tigernut is a horticultural crop grown in a very limited and homogeneous area. Results show that the environmental variability among farms was greater than variability in costs. A selection of practices can reduce impacts per kilogram tigernut by factors 252.5 (abiotic depletion), 33 (aquatic ecotoxicity), or 6 (global warming) and costs by factors of between 2 and 3. The analysis shows a positive relationship between economic and environmental performance. Results highlight how proper management leads to both relatively low environmental impacts and costs. ; The authors acknowledge the support of the Conselleria d'Empresa, Universitat i Ciencia de la Generalitat Valenciana (GV/2007/211) and the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (PAID05-08-316). ; Fenollosa Ribera, ML.; Ribal Sanchis, FJ.; Lidón Cerezuela, AL.; Bautista Carrascosa, I.; Juraske, R.; Clemente Polo, G.; Sanjuán Pellicer, MN. (2014). Influence of Management Practices on Economic and Enviromental Performance of Crops. A Case Study in Spanish Horticulture. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. 38(6):635-659. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2014.896302 ; S ; 635 ; 659 ; 38 ; 6 ; De Backer, E., Aertsens, J., Vergucht, S., & Steurbaut, W. (2009). Assessing the ecological soundness of organic and conventional agriculture by means of life cycle assessment (LCA). British Food Journal, 111(10), 1028-1061. doi:10.1108/00070700910992916 ; Basset-Mens, C., Anibar, L., Durand, P., & van der Werf, H. M. G. (2006). Spatialised fate factors for nitrate in catchments: Modelling approach and implication for LCA results. Science of The Total Environment, 367(1), 367-382. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.12.026 ; Basset-Mens, C., Kelliher, F. M., Ledgard, S., & Cox, N. (2009). Uncertainty of global warming potential for milk production on a New Zealand farm and implications for decision making. The International Journal of Life ...

International audience ; Pesticides are applied to agricultural fields to optimise crop yield and their global use is substantial. Their consideration in life cycle assessment (LCA) is affected by important inconsistencies between the emission inventory and impact assessment phases of LCA. A clear definition of the delineation between the product system model (life cycle inventory-LCI, technosphere) and the natural environment (life cycle impact assessment-LCIA, ecosphere) is missing and could be established via consensus building.A workshop held in 2013 in Glasgow, UK, had the goal of establishing consensus and creating clear guidelines in the following topics: (1) boundary between emission inventory and impact characterisation model, (2) spatial dimensions and the time periods assumed for the application of substances to open agricultural fields or in greenhouses and (3) emissions to the natural environment and their potential impacts. More than 30 specialists in agrifood LCI, LCIA, risk assessment and ecotoxicology, representing industry, government and academia from 15 countries and four continents, met to discuss and reach consensus. The resulting guidelines target LCA practitioners, data (base) and characterisation method developers, and decision makers.The focus was on defining a clear interface between LCI and LCIA, capable of supporting any goal and scope requirements while avoiding double counting or exclusion of important emission flows/impacts. Consensus was reached accordingly on distinct sets of recommendations for LCI and LCIA, respectively, recommending, for example, that buffer zones should be considered as part of the crop production system and the change in yield be considered. While the spatial dimensions of the field were not fixed, the temporal boundary between dynamic LCI fate modelling and steady-state LCIA fate modelling needs to be defined.For pesticide application, the inventory should report pesticide identification, crop, mass applied per active ingredient, application method or ...