Environmental and Economic Performance of Greenhouse Cropping in the Mediterranean Basin: Lessons Learnt from a Cross-Country Comparison

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript entitled " Opportunities to boost sustainable greenhouse farming in the Mediterranean basin" is well written,  The methodology has been described in detail. The results are presented in clear way. So, this study can be published after addressing the minor issues:

a).The title is not looking attractive, please revise it.

b). The quality of figure 1 is not good . Please revise it

c). Please provide sound recommendations  of your finding to the researcher  for future research

1. In line 52, "crop" or "crops"

2. In line 53, i.e.,

3. In line  76 , please correct the form of verb

4. In line 104, "Learnt" or " learned" ?

5. In line 81, please add the "and " before  "Antalya"

5. "interpretation, to support better understanding of study findings and deriving recommen- 114 dations, including contribution analysis." please add :" a" before "better"

6. "are not necessary as all data are already expressed in currency units" Pleas add comma before "as"

7. Line 127, Please replace used to "used for"

8. Same in  line 29

9. in line 194, please add comma after "year"

10.  and so many, please revise it throughout the manuscript.

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

There is no big issue of english

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you for your suggestions. Please find attached our detailed reply to tour comments.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

A more comprehensive evaluation of an agricultural model, especially its impact on resources, environment, and economy, has become one of the current agricultural research hotspots. But the author needs to solve the problem:

1. The abstract is well written and informative. Please add further data on the findings in this section.

2. Please explain how indirect factors such as gas emissions and fertilizer waste are taken into account in the life cycle assessment.

3. Add an overview of several pilot areas. We believe that an additional year of experiments will make the data in the paper more complete.

4. At the end of the discussion, the practical significance of this work and the prospect of future research are discussed.

5. The article is rich in content, but pictures are added to the conclusion to explain the experimental results in more detail.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Some English sentences are concise and some sentences are grammatically incorrect.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you for your suggestions. Please find attached our detailed reply to tour comments.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article is interesting and well structured. The authors study the impact of greenhouses in four countries in the Mediterranean basin and highlight the importance of reducing environmental impacts and the need for targeted interventions. About that :

- The authors correctly report the data per hectare. The reviewer asks, how large are the actual surfaces of the greenhouses taken into consideration?

-How representative are these companies and their techniques of the different territories?

In the final part we note the absence of limitations of the paper.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you for your suggestions. Please find attached our detailed reply to tour comments.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors' manuscript is devoted to studying the impact of various methods of growing tomatoes in greenhouses on the environment, as well as assessing the economic efficiency of these methods. The study was conducted on the example of 4 Mediterranean countries, two of which are EU members. Economic calculations were carried out for a greenhouse with an area of 1 hectare.

The authors of the article draw several conclusions:

- Fertilizers have been identified as a hotspot, with direct emissions mainly affecting marine eutrophication.

- Agricultural machinery contributes to environmental pollution through the generation of particulate matter.

- The widespread use of plastic products, as well as emissions of pesticides and fertilizers, has a significant impact on the environment.

- The soilless farming system is a viable alternative to reduce the environmental impact of farming.

The article makes the following main conclusion - there is a need for political support for soilless farming and water-saving technologies, in addition, control over the use of fertilizers is necessary in order to reduce their concentration in the soil.

The manuscript is written in clear and understandable language, materials and methods are described in detail. The authors discussed the results obtained and pointed out the strengths and weaknesses of their study. The authors also noted that a limitation of the study was the consideration of only 4 countries.

There are several comments about the work:

- It is completely unclear from the text why the insect manufacturer appeared in lines 185 and 186?

- In Table 2 – column 2 – euro, but this column is a breakdown of costs. Euro is the third column.

- In lines 241 and 242, insects are again mentioned “...for rearing insects...” what do you mean?

- In lines 418 and 419 there is the phrase “The use of beneficial insects and other biological control systems in Almería occupy about one-third of the costs of pesticides.”. Perhaps it should be moved higher, then it will be clear that in some cases the method of biological plant protection was used and then other phrases about insects will be clear. Or did the authors have something else in mind?

  I believe that after correcting the comments, the article can be accepted for publication.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you for your suggestions. Please find attached our detailed reply to tour comments.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf