Environmental impact of greenhouse tomato production in France

The environmental impact of greenhouse production in France is poorly documented. Environmental benefits versus drawbacks of greenhouse production are not well known. Assessments that intregrate pesticide toxicology and transfer of mass and energy are scarce. Here, we compared the main types of tomato production, heated, year-round production in plastic houses or glasshouses, and seasonal production under polytunnel. Environmental impacts where assessed by life cycle analysis. Analyses were performed after the construction of a database relating the integrality of matter and energy fluxes, regarding the structure of the system, the inputs for production, and the waste products. Results show that greenhouse heating had the highest environmental impacts, including toxicological impact. For instance, the mean environmental impact of heated crops under plastic or in glasshouses was 4.5 times higher than in tunnels. Furthermore, pesticides in tunnels had a 3- to 6-fold higher impact in terms of terrestrial or aquatic ecotoxicology or human toxicology. Our results were compared with data from other temperate production regions.