Press release
, François-Xavier Branthôme
From the study lead by Juan Ignacio Gutiérrez-Cabanillas.
A study recently published by CTAEX shows that CO2 fixation by processing tomato crops can compensate for the greenhouse gas emissions of the primary processing industry.
To demonstrate the capacity of industrial tomato plants to capture atmospheric CO2 through photosynthesis, the National Agri-Food Technology Centre (CTAEX) has collaborated with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Extremadura (UEX) to carry out a study in which the carbon balance of tomato crops has been evaluated, and to which the emissions of the industry have been added.
This study has been published in the open access journal Agriculture. CTAEX developed the study in the production area of Extremadura (Vegas del Guadiana), with some of the main cultivars in the region. At the same time, it was worked out the carbon footprint of the fields sampled, to which the emissions of the industry was added, based on previous studies.
"Traditionally, the environmental impacts of agriculture have been highlighted, with Climate Change being one of the main impact categories assessed. In contrast, very few studies have assessed the capacity of agricultural crops to fix atmospheric CO2 through photosynthesis," said Juan Ignacio Gutiérrez-Cabanillas, CTAEX's R&D Project Manager.
"On average, processing tomato plants allow 0.19 kg of CO2 to be fixed for every kg of processing tomato produced. Considering the high productivity of this crop, each cultivated hectare fixes 16,500 kg CO2/ha."
This study was developed in the 2023 season. From each selected plot, the CTAEX team sampled a significant number of plants at the end of the crop cycle, separating the root, stem, leaves and fruit, in order to subsequently analyse the amount of carbon contained in each fraction and relate this data to the amount of biomass produced. To evaluate the GHG emissions of the crop, CTAEX calculated the carbon footprint of each selected plot, taking into account all the agricultural works, the fertilisers applied, the phytosanitary treatments, and all the consumption of fossil fuels and electricity derived from these operations. In addition, it included the carbon footprint of the tomato processing industry, obtained from a previous study.
“Under the conditions of this study, each kilogram of processing tomato produced in the field involves the emission of 0.0338 kg of CO2 equivalent into the atmosphere, which is the unit of measurement of the carbon footprint. If we add the average value of the carbon footprint of the industry in Extremadura (0.0667 kg CO2eq/kg of tomato), a total of 0.1005 kg CO2eq is emitted for each kilogram of fresh tomato produced and processed. Therefore, a positive net balance of 0.0900 kg CO2eq/kg of tomato is achieved," said the CTAEX Project Manager. “The carbon balance of this activity is clearly positive, indicating that processing tomato crops in this area of Spain could more than compensate for the emissions produced."
These results show that the processing tomato sector can compensate for its own GHG emissions, potentiating a debate about its emission trading system in the EU, as they cannot be compared to those of other types of industries. More research is needed to show that the production process in the primary processing food industry can be sustainable, starting from a raw material whose production results in a positive net carbon balance.
Some complementary data
By Juan Ignacio Gutiérrez-Cabanillas 1,*ORCID,Elena Ordiales Rey 1,Micaela Carvajal 2ORCID andFrancisco Espinosa Borreguero 3ORCID
1- Centro Tecnológico Nacional Agroalimentario, CTAEX, Ctra. Villafranco a Balboa, km 1.2, 06195 Badajoz, Spain
2- Group of Aquaporins, Department of Plant Nutrition, Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura (CEBAS-CSIC), Campus Universitario de Espinardo, Apdo. de Correos 4195, 30080 Murcia, Spain
3- Plant Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences Department, Extremadura University, Av. Elvas s/n, 06071 Badajoz, Spain
Source: CTAEX
