Environmental and Economic Performance of Cereal Straw End-Practices

Paper aims to identify the sustainability of cereal straw end-practices by considering environmental and economic performances at farm level. The carbon footprint and the eco-efficiency ratio of straw end-practices are estimated. Straw incorporation in the soil and baling were the two end-practices considered based on a direct survey to cereal farms located in Apulia Region, Southern Italy. The environmental impact of alternative straw end-practices was assessed by means of an ALCA and based on GHG emissions. A sensitivity analysis tested for different wheat and straw allocation methods. Results showed that incorporation into the soil was more impactful than straw baling due to straw decomposition impacts; furthermore, regardless of the practices, impacts according to the economic allocation method were lower than impacts assessed with the mass allocation method. In order to combine the environmental and economic assessment, the eco-efficiency ratio was calculated by the gross value added per 1 Mg of total wheat residue produced. Eco-efficiency results showed that straw baled for sale had the best eco-efficiency ratio per unit of GHG emitted to the atmosphere. A joint evaluation of economic and environmental performances of cereal straw end-practices through a single indicator, the eco-efficiency ratio, is the main feature of the work that adds relevance to study findings.