The carbon footprint of training system selection in apple production

Due to rising labor costs, varying production conditions within the European Union and stagnating revenues for growers, apple production in Germany’s Rhineland-Palatinate is faced with an urgent need to reduce its production costs.
A strong mechanization opportunity has arisen with the redesign of the classic spindle crown to mechanically cut and harvested narrow fruit walls.
Such fruit walls are expected to simplify mechanical pruning and thinning, reduce pesticide use and drift, and improve the feasibility of applying sensors and robots within the production systems.
From a sustainability perspective, clarity is needed on how this innovation might affect the carbon footprint of apple production.
We therefore conducted a comprehensive carbon footprint analysis of different training and management systems that are commonly used in apple production.
We assessed the classic spindle crown, mechanically pruned spindles and multi-leader fruit wall systems.
We used a decision analysis approach to build a multifunctional model of the observed systems, using literature and expert knowledge to gather information on all influencing variables and factors.
From this conceptual model, we derived information on all materials and resources that are used for orchard management in two scenarios.
We calculated the carbon footprint for all important model factors, based on information from a life cycle inventory database.
Combining these methods enabled us to assess the consequences of changing training systems in apple production and may have wider application to other horticultural management decisions.

International Symposium on Models for Plant Growth, Environments, Farm Management in Orchards and Protected Cultivation – HorchiModel2023

L. Zimmermann, J. Kopton, C. Schmitz, C. Whitney, M. Balmer, E. Luedeling

Malus domestica, fruit walls, precision horticulture, decision analysis, life cycle inventory

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1425.58