Citation: Pedalà, M.C.; Traverso, M.; Prestigiacomo, S.; Covais, A.; Gugliuzza, G. Life Cycle Assessment of Tomato Cultivated in an Innovative Soilless System. Sustainability 2023, 15, 15669. https://doi.org/10.3390/ su152115669 Received: 1 August 2023 Revised: 10 October 2023 Accepted: 18 October 2023 Published: 6 November 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). sustainability Article Life Cycle Assessment of Tomato Cultivated in an Innovative Soilless System Maria Concetta Pedalà 1 , Marzia Traverso 2, * , Simona Prestigiacomo 3 , Antonio Covais 1 and Giovanni Gugliuzza 4 1 Circular S.R.L., Via Libertà 34, 90141 Palermo, Italy; mariaconcetta.pedala@circular.srl (M.C.P.); antoniocovais@gmail.com (A.C.) 2 Institute of Sustainability in Civil Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, 52062 Aachen, Germany 3 Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Build. 4, 90128 Palermo, Italy; simona.prestigiacomo01@unipa.it 4 CREA Research Centre for Plant Protection and Certification, c/o Dip. SAAF Unipa, Viale delle Scienze, Build. 4, 90128 Palermo, Italy; giovanni.gugliuzza@crea.gov.it * Correspondence: marzia.traverso@inab.rwth-aachen.de Abstract: The main goal of this study is to present the life cycle assessment results of an innovative closed-loop production system, called an agriponic system, used for producing tomatoes. In the study, this new system is presented, as well as its related environmental impacts generated for the production of the tomatoes. A life cycle assessment (according to ISO 14040) was applied to it, from seedling purchase and planting to harvest, using a functional unit of 1 ton of cherry tomatoes produced. SimaPro 9.3.0.3 software and the Ecoinvent database were used to analyze five impact categories. Plant growth emerged as the process unit with the highest impact, particularly for the ozone depletion potential (ODP), with a value of 0.00056 kgCFC-11eq, and for photochemical oxidation (POCP), with a value of 0.0784 kgC 2 H 4 eq impact categories. Greenhouse climate management presented a significant impact to the acidification potential (AP), with a value of 1.021 kgSO 2 eq. Conversely, the phases of plant transplanting, harvesting, and crop disposal had positive impacts for all impact categories considered in the study, because they were very low. In conclusion, agriponic greenhouse tomato production is a sustainable process. This is due to fewer pesticides that are used, and to nutrient solution reuse. Keywords: life cycle assessment; greenhouse; tomato; agriponic 1. Introduction The global population is growing, leading to a corresponding increase in the demand for food. According to literature, the demand for agricultural products from 2005 to 2050 will increase by 100% [1]. The current systems for food production require large inputs of resources, presenting remarkable environmental impacts, and causing approximately 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions [2]. As much as 70% of global freshwater consump- tion [3], extracted and used worldwide, is allocated to the water needs of the agricultural sector. Approximately 40% of the global land surface is used for agriculture [4]. Every year, around 24 billion tons of fertile soil are lost due to intensive agricultural soil erosion [5]. Roughly 20–30% of the total environmental impact per individual can be attributed to food production and consumption [6]. Furthermore, with 66% of the world’s popula- tion expected to live in cities by 2050, there has been an intensified push to modernize horticultural methods, in order to fulfill the demand from a population that is reaching close to 9 billion [7]. All growers are under pressure from declining arable land, growing urbanization, water shortages, and climate change. Thus, the agricultural sector causes climate change but, in turn, suffers from its effects. Among the new challenges facing farms today, the sustainability of agricultural production cycles is undoubtedly the most Sustainability 2023, 15, 15669. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152115669 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability