In the study of agricultural systems, where land fertility and environmental conditions are primary factors, it is essential to consider both the efficiency and the environmental sustainability of processes. Emergy analysis, introduced by H.T. Odum, is an approach developed at the interface between thermodynamics systems ecology. It was here used to obtain sustainability indicators and to assess the efficiency of a complex agricultural system, a farm in the Chianti area. The results for different crops were compared with Italian averages to obtain an idea of the long-term sustainability of this agricultural system. The cultivation of all the crops on the farm, except grapes, was more efficient and had less impact on the environment than the Italian standards. The Chianti grapes were compared not only with the Italian average but also with grapes of similar high quality, ‘Brunello di Montalcino’ and ‘Nobile di Montepulciano’, both grown in the same region. The production of grapes in the Chianti vineyard was more efficient and had an intermediate environmental impact, in the emergy sense, with respect to the other two systems. The proportion of emergy inputs to the farm that are local or renewable is quite high. Thus the emergy analysis demonstrated that the Chianti farm has a relatively good long-term sustainability considering both the whole system, and its individual crops. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Bastianoni, S., Marchettini, N., Panzieri, M., Tiezzi, E. (2001). Sustainability assessment of a farm in the Chianti area (Italy). JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION, 9(4), 365-373 [10.1016/S0959-6526(00)00079-2].

Sustainability assessment of a farm in the Chianti area (Italy)

BASTIANONI, S.;MARCHETTINI, N.;TIEZZI, E.
2001-01-01

Abstract

In the study of agricultural systems, where land fertility and environmental conditions are primary factors, it is essential to consider both the efficiency and the environmental sustainability of processes. Emergy analysis, introduced by H.T. Odum, is an approach developed at the interface between thermodynamics systems ecology. It was here used to obtain sustainability indicators and to assess the efficiency of a complex agricultural system, a farm in the Chianti area. The results for different crops were compared with Italian averages to obtain an idea of the long-term sustainability of this agricultural system. The cultivation of all the crops on the farm, except grapes, was more efficient and had less impact on the environment than the Italian standards. The Chianti grapes were compared not only with the Italian average but also with grapes of similar high quality, ‘Brunello di Montalcino’ and ‘Nobile di Montepulciano’, both grown in the same region. The production of grapes in the Chianti vineyard was more efficient and had an intermediate environmental impact, in the emergy sense, with respect to the other two systems. The proportion of emergy inputs to the farm that are local or renewable is quite high. Thus the emergy analysis demonstrated that the Chianti farm has a relatively good long-term sustainability considering both the whole system, and its individual crops. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd.
2001
Bastianoni, S., Marchettini, N., Panzieri, M., Tiezzi, E. (2001). Sustainability assessment of a farm in the Chianti area (Italy). JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION, 9(4), 365-373 [10.1016/S0959-6526(00)00079-2].
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11365/19054
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo