Economic and Environmental Assessment of Handling and Packaging Phase of Fresh Lemons in Southeastern Spain

This study establishes a warehouse model specific to the handling and packaging of fresh lemons in southeast Spain (Fino and Verna, both conventional and organic) into two types of packaging (mesh and corrugated box) and carries out an economic and environmental evaluation using Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The boundary of the assessment is the warehouse gate, not considering the following phases (distribution and consumption). The warehouse model is based on data from on-site surveys in four medium-sized companies representative of the studied area. The results of this production phase are analyzed, as well as the aggregates of the whole production chain, from cultivation to the dispatching of packaged products at the gate of the warehouse. Production costs between 0.450 €·kg−1 and 0.545 €·kg−1, with organic options being generally more expensive, although it is the packaging that accounts for the biggest differences. The cost in the aggregate production chain shows a wider range, from 0.73 €·kg−1 to 0.99 €·kg−1. In terms of employment, the production chain generates 0.58 agricultural work unit (AWU)·ha−1. The environmental results of the production chain show that the warehouse phase (handling and packaging) has a significant environmental impact. The handling stage shows little variation between lemon varieties or types of management, in contrast to the cultivation phase, where significant differences are observed. In comparative terms, in the production chain: conventional management has a greater environmental impact than organic management in most categories. The Verna variety has a greater impact than Fino and corrugated box packaging is systematically more impactful than mesh. Fresh lemons from southeast Spain have a low global warming impact (0.096–0.152 kg CO2 eq·kg lemon−1) compared to the literature, mainly due to the low impact during the cultivation phase.