Economic and Environmental Assessment of Organic Lemon Cultivation: The Case of Southeastern Spain

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors presented a study titled “Economic and Environmental Assessment of Organic Lemon Cultivation: The Case of Southeastern Spain.” This article evaluates the economic and environmental impact of the main organic lemon production systems in southeastern Spain: Fino and Verna. Using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC), the study compares the cost and environmental impacts of these organic systems with conventional lemon farming. The findings show that while organic farming has higher costs and lower productivity, it has a smaller environmental impact, particularly in terms of global warming. This study is crucial for guiding decisions in the lemon production system. So, I recommend this work for publication in the prestigious "Journal of Agronomy." The manuscript could benefit from minor revisions to enhance its overall structure.

Comments:

1. Use a capital 'C' for 'Cultivation' in the title.
2. In the introduction, clearly define key terms such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC). This ensures that all readers can understand the concepts regardless of expertise.
3. The author needs to briefly explain the edaphoclimatic peculiarities and their direct relevance to organic lemon cultivation in the introduction. This ensures the readers exactly what these peculiarities are and how they impact lemon cultivation.
4. The author should clarify in the introduction the specific practices defining the “intensive agricultural production model”.
5. In the introduction section, the author must include more detailed information to strengthen the link between organic farming and global warming mitigation by adding the latest references, such as “The Role of Organic Farming in Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Agriculture in the European Union”. This will enhance the richness of your evaluation.
6. For Environmental Assessment and Organic Lemon Cultivation refer they following research work .Recent updates on multifunctional nanomaterials as antipathogens in humans and livestock: classification, application, mode of action, and challenges. Eco-friendly graphitic carbon nitride nanomaterials for the development of innovative biomaterials: Preparation, properties, opportunities, current trends, and future outlook.
7. Conduct a thorough proofreading session for typos or grammatical errors. For example, a minor typographical error, such as "The intensive agricultural production model supposes environmental pressure," could benefit from revising the verb choice.
8. The author discusses some EU policies and regulations from line numbers 83 to 95, but they need to be supported by proper citation to ensure credibility.
9. The author should clarify the third objective in the introduction by specifying which elements are included in the sensitivity analysis.
10. Make sure the progression of ideas in the introduction is smooth. It is also important to ensure that the sentences flow logically and to incorporate transition phrases to link ideas, facilitating a smoother reading experience for the audience. This will help maintain coherence and make your points more persuasive. The authors should also ensure that all technical terms are consistent throughout the document, and if any abbreviations are used, they should be defined at first use. Such as UAA (Line 74).
11. Review every section thoroughly for any overly complex sentences and try to simplify them for better readability. Breaking long sentences into shorter ones can help readers follow the arguments more easily.
12. The author needs to provide more details on the survey methodology, such as sample size, survey design, etc. Moreover, the timeframe for data collection should be discussed.
13. The author should strengthen the statement, i.e., liquid fertilizer containers weigh approximately ten times more than those of solid synthetic fertilizers, by providing specific data or reference.
14. The author must ensure consistency in rounding numbers throughout the paper. For instance, in line number 705, the value of 4.72 from table 10 is rounded off to 4.
15. The author should briefly mention potential areas for future research, which could add depth to the discussion and indicate areas that need further investigation.
16. The author should address minor punctuation (e.g., missing commas) for better flow and readability.
17. The author should ensure consistency in the citation and reference formatting. For instance, some of the references have the full journal name, while some have the ISO abbreviation. Additionally, consider aligning the style of the text to the journal guidelines.

Others:

• If the statement in the first sentence and the consecutive sentence of the introduction are from the same source, it is suggested to use the reference only once. If the second claim is from a different source, replace the second [1] with the appropriate citation.
• The phrase “among the 10 countries” (Line 72) should be written as "among the top 10 countries" for precision.
• Specify the year for these two key statistics, i.e., “production represents 12.51% of the country's UAA” and “accounting for 41% of the world's area of this crop”.
• In Table 1, Anagyrus vladimiry and Fertirrigation, while in Table 4, Phytosnitary are misspelled; correct them.
• In line 411, the term “E0” is incorrect; replace it with “S0” to ensure accuracy.
• Correct the citation style for Table 6.
• Correct FWAW in line 707 according to the Table 8 list.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is an LCA paper, but there is not any information about system boundary in the material and method section, and also the inventory data, calculations, models, and ... are not clear. 

I strongly suggest rewriting the material and method sections and adding one figure that shows the system boundary perfectly. Also, add the references and models that were used for inventory. 

In Table 4, there is not any information on emissions!!!!!!

I will put more comments after the first revision on all sections of the paper. 

Author Response

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Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Spain is the world's leading producer of organic fresh lemons. The manuscript presents a study related to economic and environmental assessment of organic lemon cultivation. This LCA was performed to evaluate and compare the environmental impacts of two lemon cultivation models characteristic of Spain. The paper is well structured and has an adequate methodology. The main conclusion of the authors of this research study is that lemons grown under the conditions of Spain, in an organic system with fertigation, and destined for the fresh market, represent a sustainable product in both economic and environmental terms.

However, there are a few shortcomings:

- no information is included regarding the climatic and pedological characterization of the study;

- no information is included regarding the cultivated lemon varieties;

- more clarifications should be included regarding the application of the questionnaire.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Functional Units and Inventory:
This LCA study utilizes two functional units; however, the life cycle inventory presented (Table 4) is only provided for 1 kg of lemons. It is recommended that the authors also provide the inventory data for the per-hectare functional unit, ideally in the supplementary materials, to ensure transparency and completeness of the analysis.

Research Hypotheses:
It would strengthen the clarity and direction of the study, adding research hypotheses at the end of the introduction section.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf