Innovation strategies in a fruit growers association impacts assessment by using combined LCA and s-LCA methodologies Nadia Tecco a, ⁎, Claudio Baudino a,b , Vincenzo Girgenti a , Cristiana Peano a a Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Sciences, University of Torino, Italia b Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Sciences, University of Ortofruit, Italia HIGHLIGHTS • The introduction of mulching and covering on raspberry agro food system is assessed. • LCA and s-LCA have been applied independently under consistency requirements. • The innovation strategy produces environmental and socioeconomic trade-off. • The results of LCA and S-LCA have been combined within a cause-effect chain. • A business and territorial characterization allows to frame and discuss the results. abstract article info Article history: Received 30 March 2016 Received in revised form 28 May 2016 Accepted 29 May 2016 Available online xxxx Editor: D. Barcelo In the challenging world of territorial transformations within the agriculture, there is an increasing need for an integrated methodological framework of assessment that is able to reconcile the demand for solutions that are both economically sustainable and contribute to environmental and social improvement. This study aims to assess the introduction of innovation into agro-food systems by combining an environmental life cycle (LCA) assessment and a social life cycle assessment (s-LCA) to support the decision making process of a fruit growers co-op for the adoption of mulching and covering in raspberry farming. LCA and s-LCA have been applied independently under specific consistency requirements, selecting two scenarios to compare the impact with (1) and without (2) the innovation and then combined within a cause-effect chain. The interactions be- tween the environment and socioeconomic components were considered within a nested frameset of business and territorial features. The total emissions from raspberry production in Scenario 1, according to the Global Warming Potential (GWP) Impact Category amounted to 2.2840 kg of CO 2 eq. In Scenario 2, the impact of produc- tion was associated with a GWP of 0.1682 kg of CO 2 eq. Social repercussions analysis from Scenario 1 compared to Scenario 2 indicate more satisfaction for working conditions and the management of climate risks. The mulching and covering, implemented within a given framework of farm activity, created conditions for the preservation of a model in which raspberry production contributes to landscape protection, the business sustainability of farms and the creation of employment. The combined use of the two methods contributes to the development of a strategy planning due to its ability to deliver, as well as specific analysis at a functional level, a wider framework for assessing the consistency of the impacts related to innovation in raspberry production. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Innovation Fruit growers co-op LCA s-LCA Mulching Covering Raspberry 1. Introduction Smart, inclusive and sustainable development cannot be achieved without a substantial contribution from agriculture and food systems. In Europe, one of the main key challenges of the Cohesion Policy is to foster the balanced development of rural areas by enabling them to cap- italise on their distinctive territorial capital and to thus “turn diversity into strengths” (Commission of the European Communities, 2008). To identify these pathways, farming and food systems must be (re)designed in a holistic manner to reconcile the demands of produc- tivity, profitability, environmental impacts and societal values while considering, as a starting point, the heterogeneity of available resources, assets and the highly diversified ways in which they are used (Ruben and Pender, 2004) along with the evolutionary changes occurring in the functional role of agriculture (Wilson, 2007). From the static vision of agriculture as being linked to traditional farming communities, agriculture had transformed progressively into Science of the Total Environment 568 (2016) 253–262 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: nadia.tecco@unito.it (N. Tecco). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.05.203 0048-9697/© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv