Transitioning the agri-food system. Does closeness mean sustainability? how production and shipping strategies impact socially and environmentally. Comparing Spain, South Africa and U.S. citrus fruit productions

ABSTRACT

Agricultural techniques and orchard management play an important role in food production sustainability and there is an increasing number of research papers that focus on food cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment. In addition, there is also an emerging body of research on short food supply chains and on whether or not proximity can be a proxy for sustainability in the agri-food system. The objective of this analysis is to consider the most relevant social and environmental impacts of the Environmental Footprint and Social Life Cycle Assessment in the citrus fruit sector and identify crucial hotspots. We will explore the relevance of the length of citrus fruit supply chains on maps of social and environmental impacts in order to reach more wiser sustainability-based decisions. The results obtained show mixed conclusions regarding the relevance and implications of choosing short food supply chains to achieve more sustainable food systems.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainable food system
• short supply chains
• environmental footprint
• social life cycle assessment
• global supply chains
• citrus

Acknowledgments

This paper is supported by Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, under Grant Ref. RTI2018-096295-B-C21 –Project “DIGISOST.” Moreover, the authors would like to thank José Vicente Gisbert-Navarro for their helpful technical support in the design and analysis of the social and environmental footprint.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemetary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Notes

1. Extended list is available upon request to authors.