Towards more sustainable greenhouse production

Summary

Greenhouse production has been growing rapidly both in terms of its area and production over the past decade. The benefits of greenhouse production are profound, particularly in providing a diversity of fresh produce year-round and positioning high productivity against limited land. However, this has also raised environmental concerns about the impact of greenhouse production systems. Any further expansion of the greenhouse sector will require sound regulatory guidelines to ensure its environmental and social sustainability. This thesis demonstrates that a systems approach is necessary for assessing sustainability in greenhouse production, shedding light on crucial synergies and trade-offs between achieving different sustainability goals. It identifies that water, nutrients and energy use are the most critical sustainability themes that predominantly determine the overall sustainability of greenhouse production. This thesis proposes an analytical framework comprising suitable indicators tailored for greenhouse production assessments. This framework does not attempt to weigh the chosen indicators and identified Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but is designed to allow end-users, such as policy makers and stakeholders, to make decisions on their priority of actions towards sustainability.