Social Life Cycle Assessment in agri-food systems: Insights from the literature and two case studies using PSILCA

Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) complements Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (ELCA) by offering a structured approach to evaluate social sustainability. However, its application in agri-food systems—particularly combined with S-LCA databases—remains limited, despite its critical role in sustainability. This study investigates methodological and practical challenges of applying S-LCA to agri-food systems through a literature review, cross-validated by evidence from an empirical analysis of Swiss apple and greenhouse tomato production with the PSILCA v3 database. This mixed-methods approach captures confirmed and previously unrecognized challenges that neither a literature review nor an isolated case study would reveal alone. Our analysis identified 27 challenges, categorized into boundary conditions, S-LCA phases, and integration with other sustainability methods. General challenges included data quality, availability, and uncertainty, while agriculture-specific issues highlighted limited representation of farmers and inconsistent treatment of farm animals across S-LCA approaches. These findings underscore systemic barriers to capturing social impacts in agricultural systems and facilitating sustainable production. This work demonstrates that S-LCA, when combined with databases, offers a comprehensive approach to assess social risks and opportunities across agri-food life cycles. However, methodological advancements are needed to strengthen S-LCA’s complementary role to ELCA to improve the sustainability of agri-food systems.