Environmental assessment of precision farming techniques in a pear orchard

Abstract

Pears require a substantial number of inputs for satisfactory yield and quality. High inputs increase costs, reducecompetitiveness and induce environmental problems. In thecurrent study the environmental profile of a pear orchard, located in central Greece, was developed under different agricultural practices. More specifically, the environmental impacts of using different nitrogen (N) fertilizer application techniques (uniform and variable rate application, VRA) were revealed and compared. UsingN VRA, less N was used, offering cost reduction to the farmer. A Life Cycle Assessment was performed, following the ISO standards. The results showed that 55 % of the total emissions to air in the Particulate matter impact categorywere due to nitrogen oxide and ammoniaderived from fertilizer use. Moreover, carbon dioxide fossil and dinitrogen monoxide emissions to air coming also from fertilizer production and application were significant contributors to Climate Change exceeding the amount of 80% of the total emissions in this impact category. Copyright © 2017 for this paper by its author