Environmental footprint of dehydrated alfalfa forage production in Italy: A life cycle assessment with additional information on environmental benefits

Dehydrated alfalfa forage is a key feed resource in Mediterranean agriculture, serving downstream sectors such as livestock production. However, its processing relies on energy-intensive drying techniques, which involve potential environmental impacts. This study presents a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of dehydrated alfalfa production in Italy, conducted in accordance with ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards and the applicable Product Category Rules (PCR). The objective is to quantify the cradle-to-gate environmental impacts per tonne of baled dehydrated alfalfa and to assess the potential environmental co-benefits associated with alfalfa cultivation. Primary data were collected from five Italian forage processors over a five-year period (2019–2023), representing a cumulative dataset equivalent to 25 production years and allowing both inter-annual variability and variability among facilities to be considered. The results, assessed using the Environmental Footprint (EF) 3.1 midpoint method, show that the production of one tonne of dehydrated alfalfa emits, on average, 243 kgCO2eq, with the dehydration phase accounting for nearly half of total greenhouse gas emissions. Energy consumption averages approximately 360 kWh per tonne. The variability analysis shows that cultivation-related flows are affected by both temporal and company-specific factors, whereas energy consumption in the dehydration stage is driven by differences among facilities. Despite its energy-demanding process, alfalfa cultivation offers potential environmental co-benefits, including improved soil structure and biological nitrogen fixation. However, nitrogen fixation does not lead to substantial emission reductions due to limited fertilizer savings in subsequent crop rotations. Carbon uptake in root and harvested biomass is reported in addition to LCIA results.