Emergy evaluation of Sicilian red orange production. A comparison between organic and conventional farming

This study examines, by using emergy analysis, the production of red orange in Sicily in order to evaluate resource use, productivity, environmental impact and overall sustainability. Four different sicilian farms were studied in order to compare conventional with organic production. Several indices...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of cleaner production 2008-01, Vol.16 (17), p.1907-1914
Main Authors: La Rosa, A.D., Siracusa, G., Cavallaro, R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Blood oranges
Emergy method
Organic agriculture
Sustainability index
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This study examines, by using emergy analysis, the production of red orange in Sicily in order to evaluate resource use, productivity, environmental impact and overall sustainability. Four different sicilian farms were studied in order to compare conventional with organic production. Several indices derived from the emergy evaluation were used: the emergy yield ratio (EYR); the environmental loading ratio (ELR); the index of sustainability (SI). Organic orange production appears to use more renewable resources and less purchased energy and materials.
ISSN:0959-6526
1879-1786
DOI:10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.01.003