Assessment of the environmental impacts of soybean production within fields in Madhya Pradesh: a life cycle analysis approach.

This article focuses on assessing the environmental impacts of soybean production in Madhya Pradesh, India, using a life cycle assessment (LCA) within a cradle-to-gate system. It identifies global warming potential, land use emissions, acidification, and fossil resource scarcity as primary environmental concerns, largely driven by fuel combustion in agricultural machinery and soil nutrient application. The study evaluates three residue management scenarios—ignoring residue, leaving residue on the ground, and burning residue—finding that burning soybean residue significantly increases emissions, including global warming potential by 31.75% and land use emissions by 97.83%. The findings emphasize the need for sustainable residue management and reduced fossil fuel use to mitigate environmental degradation, informing policy measures aimed at promoting eco-efficient soybean cultivation aligned with global sustainability goals.