Sperandio et al. (2026) Water Scarcity Footprint and Economic Feasibility of Precision Irrigation in Short Rotation Coppice for Energy in Italy

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Identification

• Journal: Sustainability
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-01-09
• Authors: G. Sperandio, Alessandro Suardi, Mauro Pagano, Vincenzo Civitarese, C. Cedrola, R. Tomasone, Andrea Acampora
• DOI: 10.3390/su18020678

Research Groups

• Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), Research Centre for Engineering and Agro-food Processing, Monterotondo, Italy.

Short Summary

This study evaluates the economic and environmental sustainability of precision irrigation in a 15-year-old high-density poplar plantation using Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The findings indicate that while non-irrigated systems are currently the most sustainable, higher irrigation levels (T3 and T4) may become viable if biomass market values increase.

Objective

• To assess the economic feasibility and environmental impact of different precision irrigation strategies (based on soil moisture thresholds) for high-density poplar plantations used for energy production.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Local field scale; CREA research station in Monterotondo, Italy.
• Temporal Scale: 15-year period (representing the lifespan of a high-density poplar plantation).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Life Cycle Costing (LCC) for economic evaluation; Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) using the AWARE (Available Water Remaining) indicator for environmental impact; TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) for multi-criteria decision analysis.
• Data sources: Field data from an automated drip irrigation system equipped with soil moisture sensors; five experimental treatments: T0 (control, no irrigation), T1 (≤ 20% moisture), T2 (≤ 30% moisture), T3 (≤ 40% moisture), and T4 (≤ 50% moisture).

Main Results

• Sustainability Ranking: The non-irrigated control (T0) achieved the highest Preference Index (Pi = 1.000) under equal weighting of economic and environmental factors.
• Irrigation Performance: Among irrigated options, T3 (Pi = 0.637) and T4 (Pi = 0.586) outperformed lower irrigation levels.
• Least Sustainable: The low-irrigation treatment T1 was the least sustainable option (Pi = 0.379).
• Economic Sensitivity: Higher biomass market values significantly improve the economic sustainability of high-water-use treatments (T3 and T4), potentially offsetting their higher environmental water scarcity footprint.

Contributions

• Provides an integrated multi-criteria assessment (TOPSIS) combining economic (LCC) and environmental (LCA/AWARE) metrics specifically for precision irrigation in woody energy crops.
• Offers long-term (15-year) empirical data on the trade-offs between biomass yield increases and water scarcity impacts in Mediterranean poplar plantations.

Funding

• Not specified in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Sperandio2026Water,
  author = {Sperandio, G. and Suardi, Alessandro and Pagano, Mauro and Civitarese, Vincenzo and Cedrola, C. and Tomasone, R. and Acampora, Andrea},
  title = {Water Scarcity Footprint and Economic Feasibility of Precision Irrigation in Short Rotation Coppice for Energy in Italy},
  journal = {Sustainability},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.3390/su18020678},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/su18020678}
}

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