Techno-economic, environmental and social assessment of precision agriculture for stone fruit production

Precision agriculture is a powerful solution to mitigate the environmental impact of agricultural systems, optimize crop inputs and cost reduction. The aim of this work is to analyze the benefits of precision farming practices (irrigation, fertilization and phytosanitary treatment) through a life cycle sustainability assessment (environmental, economic and social impacts) using a detailed life cycle inventory for stone fruit production compared to traditional production. The 8-year life cycle inventory was provided by a local producer in southern Spain. The system boundaries include a "gate to farm gate" approach using 1 kg of stone fruit as the functional unit. The streamlined analysis incorporates environmental, life cycle cost and social risk analysis for this crop production. The results show that the reduced input requirements of the precision agriculture scenario led to lower environmental damage, reduced economic costs and lower social risks, with average impact reductions ranging between 20-30% in most sustainability categories.