How can the environmental impacts of wheat cultivation and wheat flour production be reduced? A life cycle assessment of Brazilian wheat

Wheat and wheat flour play a vital role in global food security. There is a knowledge gap regarding the environmental impacts associated with wheat cultivation and wheat flour production in subtropical and tropical environments. As one of the world’s major grain producers, Brazil needs to identify and mitigate the environmental impacts of its agricultural products. This study aimed to (1) identify the environmental impacts of the Brazilian wheat cultivation and flour production system and (2) propose strategies to mitigate the environmental impacts. The study was conducted in Brazil’s main wheat-producing region, assessing 61 farms in the wheat cultivation, grain transport, processing, and milling processes. Environmental impacts were calculated using SimaPro 9.5.0.2 with the Ecoinvent® v3.5 database. Wheat cultivation was the primary source of environmental impacts in Brazilian wheat flour production, contributing between 67% and 98% across the categories analysed. The carbon footprint of wheat cultivation was 0.50 kg CO2eq kg wheat-1, while wheat flour production ranged from 0.67 to 0.80 kg CO2eq kg flour wheat-1. Field emissions, particularly N₂O from urea, significantly impacted the global warming potential (GWP). The grain transport had a marginal environmental impact (