Environmental and economic benefits of wheat and chickpea crop rotation in the Mediterranean region of Apulia (Italy).

Wheat plays an essential role in safeguarding global food security. However, its intensive agricultural production, aimed at maximizing crop yields and associated economic benefits, jeopardizes many ecosystem services and the economic stability of farmers. Rotations with leguminous are recognized as a promising strategy in favor of sustainable agriculture. However, not all crop rotations are suitable for promoting sustainability and their implications on agricultural soil and crop quality should be carefully analyzed. This research aims to demonstrate the environmental and economic benefits of introducing chickpea into a wheat-based system under Mediterranean pedo-climatic conditions. For this purpose, the crop rotation "wheat-chickpea" was evaluated and compared with the conventional regime (wheat monoculture) by means of life cycle assessment methodology. For this purpose, inventory data (e.g., agrochemical doses, machinery, energy consumption, production yield, among others) was compiled for each crop and cropping system, thus converted into environmental impacts based on two functional units: 1 ha per year and one € of gross margin. Eleven environmental indicators were analyzed, including soil quality and biodiversity loss. Results indicate that chickpea-wheat rotation system offers lower environmental impacts, regardless of the functional unit considered. Global warming (18 %) and freshwater ecotoxicity (20 %) were the categories with the largest reductions. Furthermore, a remarkable increase (96 %) in gross margin was observed with the rotation system, due to the low cost of chickpea cultivation and its higher market price. Nevertheless, proper fertilizer management remains essential to fully attain the environmental benefits of crop rotation with legumes.

Improving environmental sustainability of agriculture in Egypt through a life-cycle perspective.

Soil plays an essential role as a habitat, source of nutrients and support for vegetation. Promoting food security and environmental sustainability of agricultural systems requires an integrated approach to soil fertility management. Agricultural activities should be developed with preventive approaches aimed at avoiding or reducing negative impacts on the soil physicochemical and biological properties and the depletion of soil nutrient reserves. In this regard, Egypt has developed the Sustainable Agricultural Development Strategy to encourage environmentally friendly practices among farmers, such as crop rotation and water management, in addition to extending agriculture to desert areas, favoring the socio-economic development of the region. In order to evaluate the outcomes of the plan beyond quantitative data of production, yield, consumption and emissions, the environmental profile of agriculture in Egypt has been assessed under a life-cycle perspective in order to identify the associated environmental burdens and ultimately contribute to improving the sustainability policies of agricultural activity within the framework of a crop rotation system. In particular, a two-year crop rotation (Egyptian clover-maize-wheat) was analyzed in two distinct agricultural areas in Egypt: New Lands in desert regions and Old Lands along the Nile River, traditionally recognized as fertile areas due to the river alluvium and water availability. The New Lands had the worst environmental profile for all impact categories, except for Soil organic carbon deficit and Global potential species loss. Irrigation and on-field emissions associated with mineral fertilization were identified as the most critical hotspots of Egyptian agriculture. In addition, land occupation and land transformation were reported as the main drivers of biodiversity loss and soil degradation, respectively. Beyond these results, further research on biodiversity and soil quality indicators is needed to more accurately assess the environmental damage caused by the conversion of deserts into agricultural areas, given the species richness these regions hold.