Quantifying the Spatial Sustainability Threshold of Conventional Potato Distribution Logistics

¹ Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Dr B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, Punjab, India
² College of Agriculture, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, United states of America

^* Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract

While the environmental effects of agricultural development are widely understood, the ecological cost associated with the regional distribution of substantial supplies in emerging countries is still a major unknown. The current utilizes a cradle-to-market Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental burden of the conventional potato supply chain originating from the Punjab province, India to nationwide locations. By using a one hectare as afunctional unit and a mean yield of 24.45 t/ha, the study models the impacts across three geographic distribution tiers Local, Regional, and Distant Metro respectively. SimaPro 10.1.1 and the ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) approach were used to characterize the environmental effect across 18 categories. The results show a “Hotspot Inversion” as the distribution radius grows. The farm-gate baseline Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 2007.67 kg CO₂ eq/ha increases by 98.82% at the regional hub and 459.96% at the distant metropolitan market. A critical analytical contribution of this study is the identification of a “Sustainability Threshold”, the point where logistical emissions replace agricultural practices as the primary environmental hotspot. Beyond this threshold, the reliance on diesel-powered Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs) results in a surge of Terrestrial Ecotoxicity and Fossil Resource Scarcity, driven by the high energy intensity of small-scale road freight. The findings show that the environmental benefits of high-yield farming methods in Punjab are substantially offset by logistical inefficiencies in long-distance distribution.