Economic and Environmental Assessment of Conventional Lemon Cultivation: The Case of Southeastern Spain

Spain is the world’s leading producer and exporter of fresh lemons, with production concentrated in the southeast. The significance of this region in lemon production and the impact of agriculture on the economy and environment make optimizing lemon cultivation crucial. The main production models of lemon in Southeastern Spain (conventional Fino and Verna) are established and evaluated economically and environmentally through life cycle costing (LCC) and life cycle assessment (LCA). Both models have a similar cost structure, with variable costs (94% of the total) being the most significant, particularly labor and irrigation, followed by fertilizers and pest control. The key difference is in productivity; Verna has a higher unit cost due to lower productivity. As in LCC, in LCA the contributions of the components to the impacts of the models are very similar due to the similarities in the production models. However, Fino shows lower absolute values due to higher productivity. Fertilizers are the component with the highest contributions to the impacts, specifically their manufacture. For global warming, low values were obtained: 0.063 and 0.081 kg CO₂-eq∙kg⁻¹ for Fino and Verna, respectively, which may result from diverse factors: high productivity, low pesticide and machinery use, and low nitrous oxide emissions because of aridity. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis was performed on the origin of water sources and calculation methods of pesticide emissions.