Publication Details |
| Category | Text Publication |
| Reference Category | Journals |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.clrc.2025.100372 |
Licence  |
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| Title (Primary) | Holistic and integrated life cycle sustainability assessment of community supported agriculture: a case study of school catering in Leipzig, Germany |
| Author | Pries, M.
; Zeug, W.; Thrän, D.
|
| Source Titel | Cleaner and Responsible Consumption |
| Year | 2025 |
| Department | BIOENERGIE |
| Page From | art. 100372 |
| Language | englisch |
| Topic | T5 Future Landscapes T7 Bioeconomy |
| Keywords | Community Supported Agriculture (CSA); Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA); Sustainable Nutrition; School Catering; Alternative Food Networks; Sustainable Development |
| Abstract | Global
food supply and intensive agriculture significantly impact social,
economic, and ecological sustainability. Community Supported Agriculture
(CSA) strives to transform regional food networks by connecting
producers and consumers. Although intrinsically more sustainable due to
agroecological farming, short supply chains, and regional cooperation,
no assessment has yet quantified the sustainability benefits of CSA. No
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been conducted in Germany, and only a
few studies have been carried out in Europe to identify the impacts and
improvement potentials of CSA. A Holistic and Integrated Life Cycle
Sustainability Assessment (HILCSA) was applied to a CSA in Leipzig,
Germany, offering a novel integrative approach to analyze CSA benefits
and impacts compared to a conventional reference in all three
sustainability dimensions. Seven different fruits and vegetables
produced by the CSA and distributed to schools in Leipzig were assessed.
Based on 82 indicators, the results showed that CSA has 63% fewer
sustainability risks compared to the conventional German food market.
All substitution factors of impacts aggregated to the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) were below 1.0, indicating a positive
contribution by the CSA. Additionally, replacing conventional supply
with supply from the CSA to 200 pupils can avoid 1 ton of CO2
equivalents over one school year. Resource efficiency emerged as a key
area for improvement, as the CSA had significantly lower yields than
conventional production. However, it had similar water, land, and energy
uses per hectare. At the same time, the highest upstream impacts were
caused by Spent Mushroom Substrate (SMS) applied as organic fertilizer.
The findings highlight the potential of CSA to drive regional
socio-ecological transformation while suggesting improvements in
resource efficiency. |
| Persistent UFZ Identifier | https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=31734 |
| Pries, M., Zeug, W., Thrän, D. (2025): Holistic and integrated life cycle sustainability assessment of community supported agriculture: a case study of school catering in Leipzig, Germany Clean Responsible Consum. , art. 100372 10.1016/j.clrc.2025.100372 |
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