Datasets for the environmental assessment of an apple value chain including fresh fruits, juice and applesauce from an organic low-input production farm

Due to societal concerns, assess the environmental impacts, address the issues and provide labelling to the consumer are growing issues for the agri-food sector. In this context, provide datasets specific to alternative systems is crucial to be able to take into account the variability between sys-tems then address their issues and label them appropriately. This data paper compiles all the data used to produce the life cycle assessment (LCA) environmental of an organic low-input apple value chain including the cultivation of apples at farm, the transformation of a part into juice and applesauce, the retail and the consumption stages. The raw data have mostly been obtained through interviews of the farmer and complemented by literature. They have been used to build a life cycle inventory (LCI), using Agribalyse 3.0 and Ecoin-vent 3.8 as background databases. The dataset also compiles the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) using the characteri-zation method EF3.0. As discussed in an associated scientific paper, this dataset participates in filling two gaps: integrate the variability between systems in the discussion and link upstream (at farm) and downstream (transformation, retail, consuming) impacts. This is done by (1) covering the entire value chain from cradle to grave when most papers found in literature focusses on one stage (e.g. the cultivation of ap-ples) and (2) applying LCA to a system that present specifici-ties not well covered by LCA literature (e.g. low-input culti-vation with no fertilization up to now).(c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )

Automated summary

Due to societal concerns, assessing environmental impacts, addressing issues, and providing labeling to consumers are growing issues for the agri-food sector. In order to consider the variability between systems and appropriately address their issues and label them, it is crucial to provide datasets specific to alternative systems. This data paper compiles all the data used for the life cycle assessment (LCA) of an organic low-input apple value chain, covering the entire process from farm cultivation to retail and consumption stages.