IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i19p14363-d1250566.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Tale of Two Strawberries: Conventional and Organic Open-Field Production in California

Author

Listed:
  • Leslie J. Verteramo Chiu

    (Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA)

  • Miguel I. Gomez

    (Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA)

Abstract

Organic produce in general is perceived as environmentally superior to conventional produce. This perception is what partially drives some consumers to pay a price premium for organic food. To understand the environmental impact across various categories of both production systems, we performed a life cycle analysis on organic and conventionally produced strawberries in California, following input estimates from extension reports. This study found that organic strawberries performed worse than conventional strawberries in almost all environmental impact categories by unit of land and unit of production. Organic strawberries generate 46% more carbon footprint than conventional strawberries. One of the main environmental impact contributors of organic production is the effect of transportation of compost, manure, and other organic inputs, which are required in large volumes per ha. The contribution of input delivery to total carbon footprint per ha of organic strawberry production is 33%, and for conventional strawberry production the contribution is 8%. Post-harvest processing of strawberries is the activity in both production systems that contributes the most to total GWP per ha of production, up to 40% for organic and 60% for conventional strawberries.

Suggested Citation

  • Leslie J. Verteramo Chiu & Miguel I. Gomez, 2023. "A Tale of Two Strawberries: Conventional and Organic Open-Field Production in California," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-11, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:19:p:14363-:d:1250566
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/19/14363/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/19/14363/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eva-Marie Meemken & Matin Qaim, 2018. "Organic Agriculture, Food Security, and the Environment," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 10(1), pages 39-63, October.
    2. Seufert, Verena & Ramankutty, Navin & Mayerhofer, Tabea, 2017. "What is this thing called organic? – How organic farming is codified in regulations," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 10-20.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Iliriana Miftari & Rainer Haas & Oliver Meixner & Drini Imami & Ekrem Gjokaj, 2022. "Factors Influencing Consumer Attitudes towards Organic Food Products in a Transition Economy—Insights from Kosovo," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-14, May.
    2. Weerahewa, Jeevika & Dayananda, Dasuni, 2023. "Land use changes and economic effects of alternative fertilizer policies: A simulation analysis with a bio-economic model for a Tank Village of Sri Lanka," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    3. Erik Nelson & John Fitzgerald & Nathan Tefft, 2019. "The distributional impact of a green payment policy for organic fruit," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(2), pages 1-25, February.
    4. Meike Weltin & Silke Hüttel, 2023. "Sustainable Intensification Farming as an Enabler for Farm Eco-Efficiency?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 84(1), pages 315-342, January.
    5. Johan Swinnen & Alessandro Olper & Senne Vandevelde, 2021. "From unfair prices to unfair trading practices: Political economy, value chains and 21st century agri‐food policy," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 52(5), pages 771-788, September.
    6. Chiara Mazzocchi & Guido Sali, 2022. "Supporting mountain agriculture through “mountain product” label: a choice experiment approach," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 701-723, January.
    7. Nesar Ahmed & Shirley Thompson & Giovanni M. Turchini, 2020. "Organic aquaculture productivity, environmental sustainability, and food security: insights from organic agriculture," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(6), pages 1253-1267, December.
    8. Umar Nawaz Kayani & Anamul Haque & Umme Kulsum & Nishat Taslin Mohona & Fakhrul Hasan, 2023. "Modeling the Antecedents of Green Consumption Values to Promote the Green Attitude," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-15, August.
    9. Anna Lungarska & Thierry Brunelle & Raja Chakir & Pierre‐Alain Jayet & Rémi Prudhomme & Stéphane De Cara & Jean‐Christophe Bureau, 2023. "Halving mineral nitrogen use in European agriculture: Insights from multi‐scale land‐use models," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(3), pages 1529-1550, September.
    10. Maurer, Rainer, 2023. "Comparing the effect of different agricultural land-use systems on biodiversity," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    11. Koen Deconinck & Marion Jansen & Carla Barisone, 2023. "Fast and furious: the rise of environmental impact reporting in food systems," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 50(4), pages 1310-1337.
    12. Debuschewitz, Emil & Sanders, Jürn, 2021. "Bewertung der Umweltwirkungen des ökologischen Landbaus im Kontext der kontroversen wissenschaftlichen Diskurse," 61st Annual Conference, Berlin, Germany, September 22-24, 2021 317076, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    13. Radu Lucian Pânzaru & Daniela Firoiu & George H. Ionescu & Andi Ciobanu & Dragoș Mihai Medelete & Ramona Pîrvu, 2023. "Organic Agriculture in the Context of 2030 Agenda Implementation in European Union Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-31, July.
    14. Stancu, Alina & Suvorov, Nicolae, 2021. "Step By Step Conversion to Organic Agriculture," Western Balkan Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (WBJAERD), Institute of Agricultural Economics, vol. 3(1), June.
    15. Zhu, Zhanguo & Zhang, Tong & Hu, Wuyang, 2023. "The accumulation and substitution effects of multi-nation certified organic and protected eco-origin food labels in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    16. Kristin Jürkenbeck & Achim Spiller, 2020. "Consumers’ Evaluation of Stockfree-Organic Agriculture—A Segmentation Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-19, May.
    17. Meemken, Eva-Marie, 2021. "Large farms, large benefits? Sustainability certification among family farms and agro-industrial producers in Peru," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    18. Ramazan Çakmakçı & Mehmet Ali Salık & Songül Çakmakçı, 2023. "Assessment and Principles of Environmentally Sustainable Food and Agriculture Systems," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-27, May.
    19. Sheng Wu & Shanwei Li, 2024. "Collaboration to Address the Challenges Faced by Smallholders in Practicing Organic Agriculture: A Case Study of the Organic Sorghum Industry in Zunyi City, China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-24, May.
    20. Nita Shah & Pratik Shah & Milan Patel, 2022. "Pricing Decisions with Effect of Advertisement and Greening Efforts for a Greengocer," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-12, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:19:p:14363-:d:1250566. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.